THE 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

OF 

SATAK 




■'< H 3 - L 1 3 C E . S ■ 



THE 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



SATAN. 



EDITED BY 

JOH^ B. BE AED, D. D. 

AUTHOR OF 

"the people's dictionary of the bible." 



" The axe is laid to the root of the trees." John the Baptist. 

' Every plant that my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." 

The Lord Jesus. 

" A dream — 
A fiction merely; something people saw 
But through their fancy; and as Fancy chose, 
The jade misled her idle votaries." Charles Swain. 




"WILLIAMS AXD XOEGATE, 

14, HENRIETTA. STREET, COVEXT GARDEN, LOXDOX ; 
And 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 

1872. 



ft 



LONDON : 
PRINTED BY C. GREEN AND 
STRAND, W.C. 



P KEF ACE. 



As this book is intended not so much for scholars as the 
general public, I have not attempted more than a series of read- 
able sketches. The same consideration has led me to adopt 
the autobiographical form, which, with the supposition of an 
intelligent companion, gives me some of the advantages of a 
conversational style. Only in the large portion of the work 
devoted to the Scriptures have I, without departing from a 
popular manner, aimed at a certain degree of completeness. To 
handle adequately all the grave topics of this comprehensive 
theme would require a library instead of a volume. Having 
aimed at nothing less than to deal a blow at Traditionalism, 
Sacerdotalism and Satanism, which reciprocally evoke and sup- 
port each other, and which, in a brood of superstitions, have 
inflicted on our race many of the direst evils under which it has 
suffered, I have simply pursued such a method as seemed to me 
most likely to conduce to my object. I may have missed my 
mark, but I shall pass the rest of my days in deeper satisfaction 
for having shot the arrow. And this observation leads me to 
say that personal considerations have exercised an influence in 
determining me to compose the book. My childhood and 
early youth were haunted by cruel phantasms which had their 
source in the gross superstition I now assail. Having a ner- 
vous temperament, and moving in a circle in which belief in 



VI 



PREFACE. 



ghosts and other imaginary beings was all but universal, I 
contracted fears and alarms which agitated and tortured me 
for many years, so that even the first days of my manhood 
were beclouded by their dark and spectral shadows. I have 
reason to believe that even in the more cultured classes of 
society many a nursery is still beset and worried by similar 
harpies, nor will the young be brought up in the pure and 
serene light of God's own lovely world until belief in the devil 
is banished for ever from the haunts of men. 

I experienced in my boyhood acute pain from devilism in 
another shape. My father, a kind, intelligent and simple- 
minded man, had inherited a rigid Calvinism, by which he 
was almost driven to suicide. As his eldest child, I shared 
his inmost thoughts, and learnt how he had been tormented 
with the fear of hell, not being able, like some, to persuade 
himself that he was one of the few favourites of heaven. 
Happily for me, as well as for him, his earnest nature threw 
off the galling yoke just before I began to turn my thoughts 
to religious matters : yet my memory has ever retained a vivid 
sense of his perils and sufferings. The terrific system is now 
past the meridian of life, but similar fears and dangers will 
last as long as Satan endures as a personal reality. The strong- 
hold of Satan is the Bible, yet Satanism is not a Biblical 
growth. This I take no small pains to shew, if only because 
I respect and love the Bible, and because I find in the Biblical 
religion, as represented by Jesus, the great hope of humanity. 
My efforts to eliminate Satan from the Bible, if successful, will 
owe the result to the exegetical resources supplied by w T hat I 
may term the new science of The History of 'Religion , which 
is gradually undermining many a theological falsity, while 
spreading the light of God's Fatherly Providence over the 



PREFACE. 



Vll 



wide surface of the human race, from its origin down to the 
present hour. 

Of the professional ministers of religion there are many who, 
exercising their functions in the spirit of the Lord Jesus, hold 
high rank among "the salt of the earth." Such men, what- 
ever their creed, whatever their position, I honour and love. 
These are not "the priests" whom I censure in some of the 
following pages. The term is meant to describe a caste, a 
power, a direction of clerical agency which thinks more of 
itself than its avowed Master, and labours for what is called 
" the Church " rather than for the real interests of beings who 
cannot be well off hereafter except so far as, in the true sense, 
they are well off here. To this professionalism the downfall 
of Satan would be ruinous. But then, under any circumstances, 
the reign of the priest cannot last very long in such days of 
light, liberty and moral power, as are already printed in God's 
Great Year Book ; and every true disciple of Christ will re- 
joice in the prospect of that copious outpouring of the Divine 
Spirit, which, neglecting all human "orders," ranks and dis- 
tinctions, shall establish the universal priesthood of humanity, 
by fulfilling the promise given by the lips of Joel and repeated 
by those of Peter : " I will pour out of my Spirit upon all 
flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy (teach 
religion), and your young men shall see visions, and your old 
men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and my hand- 
maidens I will pour out of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy" 
(Joelii. 28, 29; Acts ii. 17). 

John E. Beard. 

The Meadows,. 
Ashton-on-Mersey, near Manchester, 
March, 1872. 



CONTEXTS. 



Book I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 



Chapter I. page 
What I am and what I am not 1 

Chapter II. 

How I came lxto Existence 3 



Section 1. Logical Grenesis of the Idea of Satan. — Section 2. Exclu- 
sive Prevalence of the Dark Side of the Dualism. — Section 3. The 
Dualism is thrown into Confusion by Ecclesiasticism. — Section 4. 
Extreme Credulity the Channel through which Belief in a Personal 
Devil has been propagated. — Section 5. The Creative Power of the 
Imagination has contributed to Belief in a Personal Devil ; the 
Fact illustrated from Dante and Milton. — Section 6. Fear engen- 
ders Mental Deceptions, including Belief in a Personal Devil ; the 
Terrifying Pulpit ; the Heralds' College of Demonology ; Satanic 
Aristocracy ; vulgar Devils. 



Book II. . 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION. 



Chapter I. 

My Origin and Progress 51 

Section 1. My Embryonic Condition. — Section 2. My Birth. — Sec- 
tion 3. My Education. 

Chapter II. 

My Historical Genesis 58 

a 



X 



CONTENTS. 



Book III. 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION : MY CONNECTION WITH THE BIBLE. 

Chapter I. page 
The Old Testament : the Shemitic or Hebrew Element 65 

Section 1. The strict Monotheism of the Religion of Moses. — Sec- 
tion 2. Devilism condemned in the Old Testament. — Section 3. 
The first Account of Creation ignores Satan. — Section 4. Satan in 
the Book of Job. — Section 5. The Four remaining Passages of the 
Old Testament in which the word Satan is used considered : Con- 
clusion. 

Chapter II. 

The Aryan or Pagan Element : "The Fall," an Allegory in 

Pictures 90 

Chapter III. 

The Jewish Element as seen in the Old Testament Apocrypha ; 
Alexandrine Demonology ; Josephus ; the Pseudepigraphs op 
the Old Testament ; the Book op Enoch ; the Talmud and 
Cabbalists 103 

Chapter IV. 

The New Testament 120 

Section 1. Jude ; the Apocalypse ; the Epistle of Peter ; the Epis- 
tles of Paul ; the Epistle of James ; the Book of Acts. — Section 2. 
The Grospels : John, Matthew, Mark, Luke. 



Book IV. 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION : ELEVATION. 
Chapter I. 

My Ecclesiastical History 190 

Section 1. The Apostolical Fathers : Clemens Romanus; Polycarp ; 
the Epistle of Barnabas ; the Pastor of Hernias. — Section 2. The 
Clementines. 



CONTENTS. Xi 

Book V. 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION : DEBASEMENT. 

Chapter I. page 
My Fabulous History 208 



Section 1. How Eve fell : the Mohamedan Fable. — Section 2. The 
Devils withstand the Apostle Andrew in "the City of Man-eaters." 

Book VI 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION : DEBASEMENT. 
Chapter I. 

My Connection with the Philosophers : Apollonius of Tyana, 
the Pagan Christ : Turning Tables and Rapping Spirits in 



the Olden Time 219 

Chapter II. 

My Connection with the Gnostics and the Manioheans 225 

Chapter III. 

My Connection with Heresy 229 

Chapter IV. 

My Connection with the Priests of Rome 23-4 

Chapter V. 

My Connection with Men of Letters , 245 

Chapter VI. 

My Connection with "Witchcraft 255 

Chapter VII. 

My Connection, through Astrology, Magic, &c. , with the high- 
est Functionaries in Church and State 259 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



Book VII. 

PERIOD OF DECOMPOSITION : DEBASEMENT : DECLINE. 



Chapter I. page 
My Transformations _ 278 

Chapter II. 

Am I a Person or am I a Power ? — The Verdict of Art 292 

Chapter III. 

Am I a Person or am I a Power? — The Crucial Test... 302 

Chapter IV. 

Ecclesiastical Tradition concerning me halts in its Course ... 311 

Chapter V. 

Luther sustains my tottering Throne 318 

Chapter VI. 

Attack and Defence : Bekker, Henry More and Goadby 329 

Chapter VII. 

Efforts for my Revival : De Foe, Wesley and Doddridge 342 

Chapter VIII. 

I am become an Object of Derision 357 

Chapter IX. 

Phases of my Decline, extrinsic and intrinsic 371 

Chapter X. 

Testimonies 394 

Chapter XL 

Last Words Ill 



THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SATAN, 



BOOK I 

INTRODUCTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 

WHAT I A3I AXD WHAT I AM NOT. 

The aged, feeling premonitions of decline, are apt to look 
back and survey the past. If they become aware that, what- 
ever the cause, they suffer in public opinion, they naturally 
take up the pen and write their own biography. Such is my 
condition. Through you, my gentle Theophilus, whom I 
have trained in letters from your childhood, and who still act 
as my amanuensis, I shall hand the following narrative to 
the public. To you I am known nearly as well as to myself, 
for your love of reality is intense, and the simplicity of your 
character guarantees the truth of what you directly or indi- 
rectly declare. A pure channel, such as you present, is what 
I desire. What else could answer my purpose when I am 
about to supersede a huge and terrific falsity by a certain and 
most beneficial truth 1 The falsity is, that I am a personal 
concentration of transcendental vice, wickedness and woe. 
The truth which I wish to substitute is, that I am a personi- 
fication of the dark side of humanity and the universe. Being, 
as such, an impalpable presence, I exist in every land and 
occupy a corner in every human heart. A reflection of the 

B 



2 



ABSOLUTE EVIL HAS XO EXISTENCE. 



outer world of matter and the inner world of mind, I am not 
all dark, nor could I ever have been painted black had not 
theological speculation first thrown its own murky clouds 
over the heart of man and over the creation of God. The 
human soul in ruins and the world under its Maker's curse 
inevitably perpetuated that incarnation of Evil which theo- 
logians call the Devil or Satan. The terrific figment came 
the more readily into vigour, because, while a shadow from 
man's own baseness, it served as a substitute for his relief 
and a palliation of his guilt. 

Bad as he is, the Devil may be abused, 
Be falsely charged and causelessly accused, 
When men, unwilling to be blamed alone, 
Shift off on him the crimes that are their own. 

The clerical description of me makes me out to be an im- 
personation of absolute malignity. The existence of such a 
frightful monstrosity I confidently deny. Absolute evil can 
have no existence in a universe made and sustained by the 
God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Absolute evil and 
absolute good exclude each other. If God is, I am not ; if I 
am, God is not. Two absolutes are impossibilities. Make 
your choice between me and your Creator. You cannot logi- 
cally own both. 

Yet I am a power. I am a power under God, and as such 
I perform a task which, however unlovely and however 
painful, is destined to put forward God's wise and benignant 
purposes for the good of man. What I am in full, the fol- 
lowing pages will report. Enough to add in these intro- 
ductory remarks, that I am an image of the evil that is in 
man arising from his divinely-given liberty of moral choice. 
That evil I discipline and correct as well as represent, and 
so I am also a divine schoolmaster to bring the world to 
God. My origin is human, my sphere of action earthly, my 
final end dissolution. Evil must cease when good is universal. 
AVhile, then, I cannot boast of a heavenly birth, I disown 



I AM A PERSONIFICATION OF THE DARK SIDE OF THINGS. 3 



fiendish dispositions. Worse than the worst man I cannot 
be. I am indeed a sort of mongrel, born, bred, reared and 
nurtured of human fancy, folly and fraud. As such, I possess 
a quasi omnipresence and a quasi omniscience ; for I exist 
wherever man exists, and, dwelling in human hearts, know 
all that men think, feel and do. Hence I have power to 
tempt and mislead, and that power, when I am in my worst 
moods, I am pleased to exercise. Yet in even these my lowest 
qualities I could find my equals in courts and camps, not to 
say in Jesuitical colleges and monkish cells. I have no wish 
to set myself off by disparaging others, but hardly will even 
my defamers ascribe to me such qualities as hypocrisy, mean- 
ness, shabbiness, and a number of other low and sordid fea- 
tures which hold prominence in characters that stand well in 
the eyes of the world and are not without influence in the 
church. 



CHAPTER II. 

HOW I CAME INTO EXISTENCE.. 



SECTION I. 

LOGICAL GENESIS OF THE IDEA OF SATAN. 

Great and eager has been the dispute as to my origin. 
Some say that I co-existed from the first with the Creator of 
the universe. Some say that I am one of his own creatures. 
This presents the metaphysical view of my origin. The his- 
torical view makes me to have been in the beginning one of 
the heavenly host who lost their celestial position by losing 
their moral purity. Another historical version connects me 
with the daughters of men, by union with whom I parted 
with my angelical nature and became Satanical. 

In truth, I am the child of human speculation. And this 

b 2 



4 man's sense of inferiority the source of religion. 



speculation, surviving still, though in a sickly form, goes 
back to the earliest dawn of man's logical faculty. I came into 
existence on the first clay that man asked himself, " "Whence 
this world in which I live and of which I am a part ?" 

Untold ages had passed before the sons of man grew to 
be capable of conceiving that question. Xot knowing good 
from evil, they had no curiosity about either. In their ear- 
liest condition, they were confounded with the universe of 
which they were an almost totally unconscious part. Xot 
until the long and varied discipline of what is called evil, as 
well as good, had developed their higher nature, did they 
become conscious of themselves, as a distinct and separate 
part of the universe, hying on the bosom of the great 
mother, they drank in life unconsciously from her nutritious 
bosom : and only when weaned by her provident hand and 
whipped by her corrective rod, did they begin to feel that she 
was not they, and that they were not she. 

And yet the separation was but partial. So linked toge- 
ther were mother and child, that, though the umbilical cord 
was snapt, the connection was rather altered than broken. 
Living on in nature, men felt and owned the intimacy of 
their kinship. After all, she was their mother and their nurse. 
After all, they were her children and dependents. 

And so it has come about that some philosophers have 
asserted that the sense of dependence is the source of religion 
in man. Doubtless it is a source of religion in man, but not 
so much in its own form as in a deeper one, out of which the 
sense of dependence springs. The sense of dependence is 
rather an inference than a primary sentiment. It is an act 
of logic, and not of moral intuition. You must descend into 
man's instinctive nature, where rise all the springs of his 
higher life, if you would get to the source of his religious 
sentiments and apprehensions. In presence of the universe, 
man's first conscious feeling was a sense of inferiority. This 
arose in him spontaneously, as he lay there for the first time 
at the great maternal breast. The moment his eye opened on 



THE FIRST FORM OF WORSHIP IS THE WORSHIP OF FEAR. 5 

his mother's eye, he fell back in a depressing sense of infe- 
riority and unworthiness. It was the half- terrified feeling of 
the yet unassured, but semi-conscious babe. Xor was it, 
until repeated experiences had corrected the sentiment, that 
a certain trust sprang up, to be speedily supplemented and 
recompensed by gratitude. 

This sense of inferiority has its inseparable counterpart in 
a recognition of the superiority of the nursing mother. Ac- 
cordingly the idea of God in its earliest and essential element 
is the idea of transcendency. Nature is greater than man. 
But nature, if not an unmeaning sound, is a being, since man 
is a being. And not a being only, but a conscious being ; for 
man, who owns the superiority of nature, is a conscious being. 
YLoreover, that being is invisible, for it is not apprehended by 
the bodily eye. Yet traces of its existence and operation 
appear on every side. Consequently an invisible being, 
superior to man, exists in the entire universe. As existing, 
as operating, as the source of sunshine and the fruits of the 
earth, it must receive a name. It is called God. God then 
is the invisible and transcendent source of man's continued 
existence. What God supports must have God for its author. 
This is man's first creed — and his last is but a development 
of the first. It is a natural and so a credible result of the 
influences in which man stands in their working in, upon, and 
with the deepest feelings of his nature. 

The faith at first is vague and dim. Yet, as corresponding 
to man's nature and as connected with his inmost feelings 
and actions, it proves beneficial. Under its operation man's 
intrinsic qualities come forth, raising, refining and strength- 
ening his whole being. 

Originally the predominant sentiment of man in view of 
God was fear, an inevitable result of his own inherent sense 
of inferiority. Accordingly fear is historically known to exist 
in all low nations in their view of God. The earliest worship 
of the Biblical peoples was the worship of fear. The worship 
of love was a very late after-growth. This worship of fear 



6 



ROOT OF THE IDEA OF " THE FALL OF THE ANGELS." 



arises straightway from the sense of inferiority. That sense 
implies that he by whom it is felt is a mere weakling, as com- 
pared with God, the author of the universe. The first form 
of worship is consequently the worship of power. In full 
agreement with this general fact, the book of Genesis, in its 
first verse, makes God power, the very name denoting power, 
or rather the concentration of the powers. 

Now power has two aspects. It is either beneficent or 
maleficent, at least in appearance. Our metaphor of the 
nursing mother suggests that the beneficent aspect of power 
was the first recognized by man in point of time. But here 
it is easy to be mistaken. Some fostering influences there 
must have been open to man as soon as he saw the light of 
day, else the earliest moment of his existence and his latest 
would have stood in close proximity. Yet life must have 
been a struggle — a struggle, however, which for a time issued 
in victory, since the race succeeded the individual. Undoubt- 
edly, darkness as well as light characterized man's earliest 
days : which of the two predominated, so far as man's con- 
sciousness went, no clear indication enables the student to 
determine definitively. 

One averment may, however, be made of this beginning of 
man's religious life. It involves an ideal ; or, rather, it is the 
ideal. Man's conception of God is man's ideal. The ideal is 
recognized in his own conscious inferiority. " That power 
which I feel and own is superior, incomparably superior, to 
myself." He is superior, transcendentally superior, in power. 
In this recognition lies enfolded the whole history of religion, 
considered as representing a growth and an expansion in the 
human race. The elevating influence which has been already 
ascribed to faith gradually raises men in the scale of being. 
As they rise, their ideal ascends ; and ascend it must, because 
the very essence of religion is a sense of inferiority on the 
part of man. Man can worship only what he feels to be 
superior to himself. In other words, man's religion is neces- 
sarily man's ideal. Hence, as fast as man rises to a level 



ORIGIN OF MONOTHEISM. 



7 



with his God, his actual God begins to wane and sink from 
sight. Hence a succession of divine dynasties is inevitable. 
Chronos is supplanted by Jove. To speak more correctly, 
man's idea of God is an ascensional idea. The worship 
called forth by power begets the worship of love. Elohim is 
superseded by " our Father." In this gradual clearing up 
of man's idea of God, God's unity comes, in the lapse of 
centuries, to find recognition and advocacy. In the beginning? 
the ideas of unity and plurality are too abstract to be owned. 
Man's conception is no less confused than shadowy. He sees 
and worships God in the sun ; scarcely less does he own him 
in the moon and in the stars. The nature-worship which 
this implies is the worship of a natural power with the aid 
of personification. In time, however, the question is forced 
on the conscious and reflective intellect, "Are these all 
gods ?" By and by there comes for answer, " They are not 
separate gods, but forms and manifestations of one God." 
Then an Abraham appears to inaugurate the reign of mono- 
theism. And that monotheism, as affirmed and represented 
by him, is of so rigorous a kind as to exclude all duality. 
God is, God is one, God is power, God is good, God is the 
Father of all, are the successive stages through which man's 
thought, call it, as you will, either a recognition or a revela- 
tion, it is in reality both — these are the successive stages ; 
the rounds in the ladder on which man ascends to God, and 
God, as in Jacob's dream, comes down in augelic forms to 
man. 

It is, however, only the loftiest natures, like that of Abra- 
ham, Moses, David, the Hebrew prophets — it is only the 
most thoroughly religious souls, that can and do see God as 
he is, in his own essential and unshared spiritual oneness ; 
and none has had the light and jo} r of the beatific vision in 
clearness, distinctness and fulness, but " the man Christ Jesus" 
(1 Tim. ii. 15), who in consequence is in that vision one with 
God (John x. 30). Yet it must be added as a necessary 
qualification, that absolutely God is known and apprehended 



8 THE IDEA OF SATAN SPRINGS FROM MAN'g SELF-ESTEEM. 



only by God. The Divine consciousness, which is the con- 
sciousness of the all-pervading self, is in its nature incom- 
municable. Could it be shared, monotheism would not be 
the one true religion. There is, however, an anterior state of 
the religious sense, and that state, going back to the dawn of 
human culture, never ceases wholly to exist, except in the 
princes and. kings of the religious hierarchy. That state pos- 
tulates Satan as the inevitable antithesis of God. This dual- 
ism, like all first things on earth, has a physical origin. 
Whether man's earliest conception of God lay in the acknow- 
ledgment of his beneficent or of his maleficent aspect, doubt- 
less the two existed and co-existed very soon. The elements 
of both, as apprehended by man, lie around him in his cradle. 
Day and night may serve as their representatives. Certainly 
the contrast of light and darkness begins with man s infantile 
recognitions and ends with his loftiest culture — though in 
the later stages the two are simple figures of speech. But 
the great source of the natural dualism is man's own appa- 
rently twofold nature. Man is conscious of what he calls 
bad feelings as well as good. This consciousness, in its origin 
and earlier ttnfoldings, is, if not strictly physical, certainly not 
properly ethical. Only later on in man's growth does the 
general sentiment take a moral character. In that chancre I 
am born. My existence is primarily due to man's self-esteem 
acting on his acknowledgment of wrong motives and wrong 
actions. Vicarious religion is the root of religious errors, and 
vicarious religion is a rank growth of an overweening idea 
of self. " Xo, that revenge, that lust, that malice, is not mine. 
I am not so base : it comes to me : it is forced upon me : 
either it is from a false accuser or an adversary, but it is not 
from my own heart ; the resistance I offer is the proof ; 
besides, I love it not, but hate it ; how can it then be mine ? 
Perhaps I am my own false accuser, my own adversary, tor- 
turing mvself bv mv own fancies ? . . . I am not so silly. 
Does it proceed from disease of body ? disease of mind ? I 
am sound and vigorous in both. Xo ; it has its origin out 



VICARIOUS SIX VICARIOUS HOLINESS. 



9 



of myself. Witness the suddenness of its appearance. Evil 
thoughts come uninvited and unsuspected. They are clearly 
infused, aye, often thrust in ; they take possession of me as 
by storm. The adversary is without ; at least lie is another 
than myself ; one morally inferior to myself, yet having power 
to enter my heart and lead me astray. This is the only true 
solution. There is an adversary, perhaps a troop of adver- 
saries." 

Hence the superstition of the Satanic host. One super- 
stition begets another in its own likeness. Having thus 
thrown their demerits on another, in another's merits men 
find their own. And the vicarious sacrifice of Christ is but 
the necessary complement of the vicarious wickedness of Satan. 
The twins will die at the same moment. 

Am I interested in their demise ] Yes, for my death pre- 
supposes the perfection of human nature and the supremacy 
of God. And in those two sublime realities all real good is 
absorbed and centered. The death of Satan is the death of 
the great adversary of God and man. That most desirable 
result I hope to accelerate in giving a somewhat detailed his- 
tory of the rise, progress and decline of the darkest fiction 
and hugest falsity that ever overshadowed and harassed the 
human race. 

SECTION II. 

EXCLUSIVE PREVALENCE OF THE DARK SIDE OF THE DUALISM. 

In the lower races and under unfavourable external influ- 
ences, the recognition of God either arises in a faint and evan- 
escent form, or seems almost to sink and disappear. Ecclesias- 
tical shortsightedness and the tyranny of narrow dogmas may 
have concealed the recognition from the eyes of imperfectly 
informed and meanly cultivated travellers on the one side, or 
gone far to efface it on the other ; yet after due allowance 
has been made for mental blindness and the exaggeration of 
system, prejudice and caste, the impartial observer is com- 



10 



SATAX IMPLICATES MAGIC. 



pelled by facts to admit, together with the moral degradation, 
the almost utter religious insensibility of many tribes and 
populations still existing on the surface of the earth, and 
which may justifiably be put into the class of Turanians. 
These low and debased herds of men, women and children do 
indeed reproduce in modern days the earliest and semi-bar- 
barous peoples which represent that family of men in the ear- 
lier ages. If class names were given in virtue not so much 
of consanguinity as moral condition, the scale of culture at its 
lowest figures could be too easily filled in with names as 
savage as those of the days of Cain. 

As it is in the normal man that the idea of God germinates, 
blossoms, and produces sound and nutritious fruit, so all 
abnormal conditions of humanity are adverse and even deadly 
to the thought. Yet never can man wholly escape from the 
idea of power superior to himself. If God is not owned, 
Satan takes his place. And wherever Satan is, some black 
art or the other prevails. Magic may be taken to represent 
the preternatural control which priestcraft or jugglery of some 
kind exercises over man in the abuse of the acknowledgment 
of God. Indeed, magic is the reality that is denoted by the 
name Satan. The two words are interchangeable. What 
ecclesiastically is called the devil, may be said to require the 
historical name of magic. In this sense I am the great and 
universal magician. A magician as a man would be con- 
temptible, even in ignorant and brutish races, did he not con- 
trive to persuade his dupes that he was sustained and led by 
an invisible and mighty power. In the mental confusion 
which attaches to all inferior natures, a man led by me 
becomes a devil himself. The identification is often aided by 
religious falsities and incantations. Even the art of healing 
conduces to the deception. " The medicine man" of a semi- 
barbarous tribe is often little else than Satan incarnate. 

Among barbarous populations, magic, if not religion itself, 
is its most important observance. The magician is the arbiter 
of the destinies of men and society. He fixes the hour for 



THE FETICISM OF THE LOWER RACES OF MEN. 11 



undertakings and combats ; he points out the most prolific 
water for fishing and the most promising grounds for hunting. 
By invoking the aid of the devil, he heals the sick and revives 
the dying. In all uncivilized lands, if the sea is lashed into 
fury, it is done by my hand; if the winds roar and threaten a 
tempest, I "ride on the whirlwind and direct the storm if 
a volcano bursts into pyramids of flames and lava, it is my 
■wrath, that burns and devastates. In the eyes of the native 
Polynesians, when the earth trembles, when wigwams totter 
and fall to ruin, when families are engulfed, the evil power 
Pelo is venting his destructive rage. 

Black races, which in certain lands seem to possess little 
more of humanity than its form and some sort of articulate 
speech, are the most superstitious, and consequently most 
under the control of magicians. It is a popular pleasure to 
the native of Xew Guinea to pick up the grigris or fetiches, 
to arrange them in the consecrated forms, to decorate his bow 
and his lance with them, to offer them presents, to salute them, 
to put up to them his prayers. A feather, a little bone, a 
brilliant insect, the eye of a jackal, a serpent's tooth, a living 
snake — these are his protecting genii, his powerful divinities. 
But the superstitions of black men are not always so little 
baneful. Fearfully cruel are the manners of the Caff res, pre- 
sided over by sortilege or the casting of lots ; no less horrid 
the human sacrifices which the terrible Bengeulans, on the 
western shore of Africa, offer to the devil ; sacrifices preceded 
by magical conjurations during an entire day, and followed by 
banquets of human flesh and strong drink. " It is," says a 
priest of the Eoman Church, " it is the most solid victory 
that Satan has gained over the fallen race of men, to per- 
suade them to feast on one another." Dread of the Congos, 
as the magical rulers of Congo, is universal. Those gods on 
earth have skill to calm the hurricane, to implore disease 
away, to bring ruin on lands and hamlets. The king him- 
self bends before their chief, who bears the title of Cha-Coutho. 



12 SAT AX WORSHIPED INSTEAD OF GOD. 

The Albinos of Loango are sorcerers by privilege of birth, and 
live at the public cost ; their mokissos or demons are, however, 
less cruel than those of Benguela. 

The natives of Tucopia (New Hebrides) never undertake a 
maritime expedition without having launched into the bosom 
of the sea a canoe bedecked with flowers and ornamented with 
plumes, to conjure the spirits of the tempests by offering that 
nutriment to their fury. The same was done by the Egyp- 
tians and other nations of antiquity. At Nitendi and in 
the isles of Solomon the magicians are accounted organs of 
Satan, who throws them on the ground, transports them from 
place to place, and, during a superinduced insensibility, 
plunges them into the most violent contortions. On recover- 
ing their senses, or, as the phrase is, when the evil Spirit 
quits them, they utter a sudden, sharp and piercing cry, which 
relieves the bosom whence it comes. These recall to mind 
the demoniacs of the New Testament. In Borneo and other 
savage places, where no worship is addressed to the'Deity, and 
where I am alone believed in, being the perpetual object of 
popular terrors, magic is equally universal and baneful. 

In all such states of un culture I alone reign over human 
beings. Me they own, me they worship, me they imitate. 
God, properly so called, is not in all their thoughts. The 
being whom they really acknowledge is Satan, " the prince of 
darkness.'' They know no other invisible power. Their recog- 
nition may be unconscious, certainly it is not distinctive. Never- 
theless it is real, equally is it terrific. A reflection of them- 
selves, it is dark and deadly, and its worshipers it makes as 
dark and as deadly with the lapse of time. Yet even here 
there is an ideal. The ideal of barbarians is evil on an im- 
posing scale. That ideal begets a rivalry. The greatest man 
is the greatest slaughterer. This ideal, alas ! is not unknown 
in modern days and in nations that bear the Christian name. 
Its common name is "glory." 

The most extraordinary instance of the dualism recently 



THE "DEVIL- WORSHIPERS" OF MESOPOTAMIA. 



13 



made known is presented by Mr. Layard in the Yezedis of 
Mesopotamia.* Their conceptions and practice have procured 
for them the specific name of " Devil-worshipers." They 
do indeed recognize one Supreme Being, but, like too many 
pretended Christians, they stop short with a barren acknow- 
ledgment ; while they honour Satan at least by fearing him. 
The name of the evil Spirit they are indeed said never to 
mention. This express avoidance arises from the fear of 
giving him offence. So far do they carry their dread of 
offending him, that they abstain from every expression which 
may resemble in sound the name Satan. Thus in speaking 
of a river they will not say Shat, because it is too nearly 
connected with the first syllable in Sheitan, Satan, but sub- 
stitute Nahr. When they speak of the devil, they do so 
with a reverence which has a parallel in ordinary professors 
of Christianity. Accordingly the Yezedis call me Melee Taous, 
king Peacock, or Melek-el-Koat, the mighty angel. They 
worship me under the symbol of a bird of bronze. They also 
agree with Christian orthodoxy in holding me to be the chief 
of the angelic host, now suffering punishment for rebellion 
against the Divine will, but still all-powerful and to be re- 
stored hereafter to my high estate in the celestial hierarchy ; 
thus adding another to the numerous instances which exhibit 
heresy as more merciful as well as more philosophic than 
orthodoxy. I am, they logically add, to be conciliated and 
reverenced ; for as now I have the means of doing evil to 
mankind, so hereafter shall I have the power of rewarding 
them, if only by commuting their penalties. Indeed, they 
are obviously imbued with magian conceptions ; for next to 
me in wisdom and power, they own seven archangels (Ani- 
shaspands) who exercise great influence over the world. These 
bear names which you, my pupil, will become familiar with 
ere long in forms slightly different ; viz., Gabriel, Michail, 
Eaphail, Azrail, Dedrail, Azrapheel, Shemkeel. I know not 

* Nineveh and its Remains, by Austen Henry Layard, Yol. I. p. 296, 
seq. 2 vols. London, 1849. 



14 



GOD, SATAN AXD MAX, IX EVANGELICALISM. 



indeed that they have not as good a claim to the title Chris- 
tian as that of the bnlk of those who are so denominated, for 
they hold Christ to be a great angel who took the form of 
man. He did not die on the cross, indeed, but he ascended 
to heaven and is to come to earth again. 



SECTION III. 

THE DUALISM IS THROWN tNTO CONFUSION BY ECCLESIASTKTSM. 

Good and God, if not the same word, represent the same 
reality. The antithesis of good is evil. Were the elements 
of good and evil everywhere the same, a confnsion of the 
terms would be easily avoided. But with man, good and evil 
rise and fall on the moral scale exactly as his general culture 
rises and falls. Hence in a certain sense every man has his 
own God and his own devil. Not to reduce the matter to 
this minuteness ; from the variations of moral character, cor- 
responding differences arise touching the good principle and 
the bad principle. It is only the highly cultivated conscience 
that gives birth to normal good, and by contrast displays 
normal bad. But lofty culture is general only in modern 
days. Hence the earlier religionists worship evil when they 
think they are worshiping good. These false impressions, trans- 
mitted in books, come down into later ages and throw the 
dualism of good and evil into confusion. "What is bad is 
called good, what is good is identified with what is bad. Such 
is the gross mistake made at the present hour by popular 
ecclesiasticism. 

What is its theory 1 God made man upright. The first 
man disobeyed God, and so brought God's wrath on all his 
posterity. In consequence, every man is born with a fatal dis- 
ease. This disease entails his ruin. He is under the curse of God 
for time and eternity. In other words, he is the slave of Satan. 
Satan himself is a condemned convict, for he too disobeyed 
God. Accordingly, this lower world lies in moral chaos. 



THE MORAL UNIVERSE A CHAOS. 



15 



Thus it lay for four thousand years, during which period earth, 
with a few exceptions, was only a training ground for hell. At 
length God interposed and sent his Son, Jesus of Nazareth, to 
substitute a blessing for the curse. But here, again, God was 
disappointed in the result, Jesus was crucified, I triumphed. 
The world still remained for the most part in my hands, and 
in my hands for the most part it remains to this hour, and 
will remain when time shall have passed into eternity, leaving 
me the ruler and the punisher of millions that no man can 
number, no man estimate, except by saying that my victims 
incomparably surpass the true worshipers of God. This, then, 
is the final issue of creation. The noblest work of God is 
not only a failure, but a ruin, an irreparable and everlasting 
ruin. 

What specially darkens this result is, that it is grossly and 
incurably unjust for God to condemn a race for one act of 
disobedience on the part of one man. It is unjust to continue 
in existence the race condemned, so as to cause the certain 
loss to all eternity of most individuals of each successive 
generation. It is unjust to punish the innocent Jesus for the 
sins of a guilty world. It is unjust, when God has received 
the penalty, to exact a second payment in the eternal tor- 
ments of the bulk of human kind. But the height of injus- 
tice is it, when God has been placated, for him to act toward 
men for ever as pitilessly as he would have done had he 
received no vicarious atonement whatever. But even this 
injustice is exaggerated when the condemned suffering many 
behold the elect few in the enjoyment of God"s favour, not 
because they are more obedient than the others, but simply 
because such is God's will. The will of such a God is the 
rule of simple force. Hence emphatically God becomes Satan. 
Even greater than it is would be the majority of my wretched 
slaves, but for an order of men whose special functions it is 
to take the sting out of that curse. These men, having an 
office so momentous, obtain immense power on earth, and 
accordingly subdue generations after generations to their will. 



16 



MOLOCH AXD " OUR FATHER. 



Ecclesiastical tyranny begets civil despotism. And thus two 
other j:>]agues infest the human race. Yet submission is the 
only way of salvation. " Everlasting punishment" can be 
avoided only by submitting to rites and ceremonies or pro- 
fessing a creed. Both may be unreasonable, but they have a 
divine sanction. Therefore yield, or " without doubt you 
will perish everlastingly." 

This is the ecclesiasticism. It calls light darkness and 
darkness light ; or, rather, without making me good, it makes 
God bad. That it does make God bad, every one owns the 
moment the dire system is placed before him, if only he 
retains undarkened and unperverted the natural sentiments of 
good and evil, as they are in themselves and as they stand 
contradistinguished the one from the other. The God of the 
system is no God at all. He is Satan under another denomi- 
nation. And thus ecclesiasticism delivers the world over to 
two Satans. Only in name can the dualism be said to exist. 
To compare the two together would be too painful. But this 
must be said, that I am not loaded with the fearful respon- 
sibility of having given birth to this eternal moral chaos; for 
after all I am, according to the system, but the tolerated 
instrument of liim to whom I owe my being, and who in con- 
sequence is chargeable with all the ills I inflict on the human 
race. 

Compared with such a God, Moloch sinks into a petty 
demon. Had the Europeans now in this nineteenth century 
for the first time heard that such a religion was held and 
practised by some savage tribe on the western side of Africa, 
they would have pronounced the tale a phantasm bred in 
some diseased and over-excited brain. 

Utterly different is the Almighty Being whom Jesus called 
" My Eather," " Our Father," " Bighteous Eather." To him in 
time men will learn to cleave more and more, until their love 
and service of .God will relieve the world of the terrible in- 
cubus of the ecclesiastical principle of good and the ecclesias- 
tical principle of evil. Even yet the confusion is but partially 



THE ANGRY GOD OF FALSI*: THEOLOGY. 



17 



exhibited. The good side of the dualism appears under three 
aspects. Before "the Fall," God loves man; after "the Fall," 
he hates man. Even when he has received full payment of 
man's debt, he pursues the bulk of the creditors with unap- 
peasable wrath. Hence it appears that of the. three aspects 
of the bright side of the dualism, two are for the most part 
irretrievably dark. As for the originally dark side, it remains 
dark, yet gains some relief in contrast with the double dark- 
ness of the other side ; for, bad as theologians make me, I 
am, according to their own account, nothing but tlie execu- 
tioner of the Divine will, 

Pitiable, 0 man, is thy condition, if it is such, as it is made 
to be by systems of divinity ! 

Do I not, you ask, paint the Almighty in colours too 
gloomy and frightful 1 My dear pupil, it is not I that paint 
the Almighty ; it is the doctors of divinity. I will give you 
the proof in two or three extracts from the psalmody of Dr. 
Watts, one of the most gentle and amiable of men, but also 
one who has drawn some of the most dismal and distorted 
caricatures of God. 

" His sounding chariot shakes the sky ; 
He makes the clouds his throne ; 
There all his stores of lightning lie, 
Till vengeance darts them down. 

His nostrils breathe out fiery streams ! 

And from his awful tongue, 
A sovereign voice divides the flames, 

And thunder roars along. 

Think, 0 my soul ! the dreadful day, 

When this incensed God 
Shall rend the shy, and burn the sea,, 
And fling his wrath abroad. 

"What shall the wretch, the sinner do ? 

He once defied the Lord ; 
But he shall dread the thunderer now, 

And sink beneath his word. 

C 



18 



REPULSIVE CARICATURES OF GOD. 



Tempest of angry fire shall roll 
To blast the rebel worm, 

And beat upon his naked soul 
In one eternal storm." 



" Come, let us lift our joyful eyes 
Up to the courts above, 
And smile to see our Father there, 
Upon a throne of love. 

Once Hwas a seat of dreadful wrath, 
And shot devouring flame ; 

Our God appeared ' consuming fire,' 
And Vengeance ivas his name. 

Rich were the drops of Jesus' blood, 
That calm'd his frowning face, 

That sprinkled o'er the burning throne, 
And turrid the wrath to grace. 

To thee ten thousand thanks we bring, 

Great Advocate on high : 
And glory to the eternal King, 

That lays his fury by." 



u Behold the Judge descends ; his guards are nigh, 
Tempest and fire attend him down the sky. 
Heaven, earth and hell, draw near : let all things come 
To hear his justice and the sinner's doom. 
Fly to the Saviour, make the Judge your friend ; 
Lest, like a lion, his last vengeance tear 
Your trembling souls, and no deliverer near." 

Poor mortals, who have fallen into the sin to which God 
made your liable ; — poor and pitiable mortals ! You have to 
face the fury of ttvo lions : God is one, and I am the other. 
The manifest injustice becomes an insult when the sinner is 
brought to his knees with the following plea for mercy : 

' ' Lord, I am all conceived in sin, 
And born unholy and unclean ; 
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall 
Corrupts the race, and taints us all. 
Soon as we draw our infant breath, 
The seeds of sin grow up for death : 



SATAN A PRODUCT OF GROSS CREDULITY. 



19 



The law demands a 'perfect heart; 
But we're denied in every part." 

[Mercy ? Justice you should claim. " Can the Ethiopian 
change his skin, or the leopard his spots ?" Then may ye also 
do good who are "all conceived in sin," "corrupt and 
tainted" "soon as you draw your infant breath while yet of 
you, "defiled in every part," "the law demands a perfect 
heart." (Jerem. xiii. 23.) 

Still the picture which divines paint of me is very repul- 
sive, but no way so repulsive as that which thev paint of 
God. 

SECTIOX IT. 

EXTREME CREDULITY THE CHANNEL THROUGH WHICH BELIEF IN A 
PERSONAL DEVIL HAS BEEN PROPAGATED. 

Every stream receives a tinge from the hues of the bottom 
and sides of the ground through which it flows. As with 
streams, so with ideas. Belief in me has come to you of this 
generation from the Eoman Catholic world. A medium so 
grossly credulous is not to be found in all history. So 
extravagant are many of the stories for which the Papal 
Church is responsible, that few impartial persons can read 
them without being assured that what they peruse is the 
product, if of illusion, certainly of collusion as well. To 
which of the two the larger share should be ascribed, I will 
not undertake to determine. My end is answered if I shew 
how dark and troubled were the channels which have trans- 
mitted belief in me to the modern world. 

That the literary authority I chiefly follow may be un- 
questionable, I take the book which more than all others 
makes the priests who make the supports by which I am 
upheld. It is The Breviary * or Prayer Book of the Eoman 

* Breviarium Romanum in quatuor partibus: Ratisbonse, 1866, Sumtibus 
S. sedis Apostolicaa Typog. To this was added in 1867, Officia Sanctorum 
Anglias, for the special use of the English Roman Catholics. 

0 2 



20 SUPERSTITIOUS CREDULOUSNESS OF THE BREVIARY. 

Catholic clergy. The lesson for the day given in this autho- 
ritatively compiled and infallibly sanctioned volume every 
priest of the Eoman Church, from the Pope downward, is 
required to read under severe ecclesiastical penalties. Spurious 
records of the sufferings of the early martyrs contribute 
copiously to the substance of the Breviary. The variety and 
ingenuity of the tortures described are equalled only by the 
innumerable miracles which are said to have baffled the 
tyrants, whenever they attempted to injure the Christians by 
any method but cutting their throats. Houses were set on 
fire to burn the martyrs within ; but the Breviary informs us 
that the flames raged for a whole day and night without 
molesting them. Often do we read of idols tumbling from 
their pedestals at the approach of the persecuted Christians ; 
and even the judges themselves dropped down dead when 
they attempted to pass sentence. The wild beasts seldom 
devour a martyr without prostrating themselves before him ; 
and lions follow young virgins to protect them from insult. 
The sea refuses to drown those who are committed to its 
waters, and when compelled to do that odious service, the 
waves generally carry the bodies where the Christians may 
preserve them as relics. On one occasion a pope is thrown 
into the Lake Mceotis, with an anchor which the infidels had 
tied round his neck, for fear of the usual miraculous floating ; 
the plan succeeded and the pope was drowned. But the sea 
was soon after observed to recede three miles from the shore, 
where a temple appeared in which the bod} 7 of the martyr 
had been provided with a marble sarcophagus. 

Cyprian, a heathen magician, who to that detestable art 
joined a still more infamous occupation, engaged to put a 
young man in possession of Justina, a Christian virgin. For 
this purpose he employed the most potent incantations, till 
I was forced to confess that I had no power over Christians. 
Upon this Cyprian concluded that it was better to be a 
Christian than a sorcerer. Cyprian and Justina, being ac- 
cused before the Boman judge of being disciples of Christ, 



THE MARTYRDOM OF SAINT CECILIA. 



21 



are condemned to be tossed together into a cauldron of 
melted " pitch, fat and wax ; " from which, however, they 
come out quite able to be carried to Nicomedia, where they 
are put to death by the almost infallible means of the sword 
or the axe. 

The greatest stress is laid on the authority of the story of 
Saint Cecilia, of musical celebrity, who having been forced to 
marry a certain Valerius, most earnestly entreated her bride- 
groom to avert from himself the vengeance of an angel that 
had the charge of her virgin purity. Valerius agreed to 
forego his rights, and promised to believe in Christ, provided 
he saw his heavenly rival. But Cecilia declared that such a 
sight could not be obtained without previous baptism ; upon 
which, the curiosity of the bridegroom supplying the place of 
faith, he declared his readiness to be baptized. After the 
ceremony, the angel shewed himself to Valerius, and subse- 
quently to a brother of his, who had been let into the secret. 
Astounded at the vision, as soon as he had recovered from his 
stupefaction, he sent for his brother Tiburtius, who, having 
been imbued by Cecilia with faith in Christ, was rewarded 
with a sight of the same angel as his brother had seen. Both 
of the men, a short time after, suffered martyrdom with 
firmness under the prefect Almachius. This same pagan 
forthwith ordered Cecilia to be burned in a bath in her own 
house. When during a whole day and night she remained 
untouched by the flames, the headsman was sent to put her 
to death ; who, when he had failed to behead her with three 
strokes of the axe, withdrew, leaving her half alive. 

Of course the Breviary supplies legends fitted to augment 
and confirm the power of the Pope, as well as to exercise the 
faith of his subjects. The most notorious forgeries are for 
these purposes sanctioned and consecrated in this sacerdotal 
Prayer Book. That these legends are often given in the words 
of those whom the Church of Rome calls Fathers, only shews 
how long the credulity has been fostered, and how carefully 
and successfully it has been sustained. We thus find the 



22 pope john's horse won't carry a woman. 

fable about the contest between Peter and Simon Magus 
gravely repeated in the words of Maximus. " The holy 
apostles (Peter and Paul) lost their lives,' ' he says, " because, 
among other miracles, they also by their prayers precipitated 
Simon from the vacuity of the air. For Simon, calling him- 
self Christ and engaging to ascend to the Father, was sud- 
denly raised in flight by means of his magic art. At this 
moment, Peter, bending his knees, prayed to the Lord, and 
by his holy prayer defeated the magician's lightness ; for the 
prayer reached the Lord sooner than the flyer. The righteous 
petition outstripped the iniquitous presumption. Peter, on 
earth, obtained what he asked much before Simon could reach 
the heavens to which he was making his way. Peter there- 
fore brought down his rival from the air, as if he had held 
him by a rope, and dashing him against a stone in a pre- 
cipice, brake his legs ; doing this in scorn of the fact itself, so 
that he who, but a moment before, had attempted to fly, 
should now not be able to walk ; and having alfected wings, 
should lack the use of his heels." 

How daring the forgery was, and how r credulous those for 
whom it was made, may be learnt from the fact, that even 
then, when this legend was put into circulation, there existed 
in a letter which claims to have Peter for its author, these 
words : " Render not evil for evil, nor reproach for reproach, 
but contrariwise blessing ; for it is better, if the will of God 
be so, that ye suffer for well-doing ; for this is thankworthy, if 
a man for conscience toward God endure tribulations, suffering 
wrongfully." (1 Peter iii. 9.) 

Pope John, saint and martyr, being on a journey to Corinth 
and in want of a quiet and comfortable horse, borrowed one 
which the lady of a certain nobleman used to ride. The 
animal carried his holiness with the greatest gentleness and 
docility, and, when the journey was over, was returned to his 
mistress ; but in vain did she attempt to enjoy the usual 
service of her favourite. The horse had become fierce and 
gave the lady many an unseemly fall, " as if," says the 



HOME OF THE VIRGIN CARRIED FROM PALESTINE TO ROME. 23 

authorized record, " feeling disgust at having to carry a 
woman, since the Yicar of Christ had been on his back." The 
horse was accordingly presented to the pope, as disdaining to 
be ridden by a less dignified person, especially a woman. 

The standing miracles of the city of Eome — those mira- 
culous relics which, in former times, made the whole of 
Europe support the idleness of the Eomans at the expense of 
its devout credulity — are not overlooked in this manual of 
Christian edification. An instance may be given in the case 
of St. Peter's chains, such as they are now venerated at Eome. 
Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the younger, being on a pil- 
grimage to J erusalem, received as a present one of the chains 
with which St. Peter was bound in prison when he was 
liberated by an angel. This chain, set with jewels, was for- 
warded by the pious empress to her daughter, then at Eome. 
The young princess, rejoiced with the gift, shewed the chain 
to the people, who repaid the compliment by exhibiting 
another chain which the holy apostle had borne under !Nero. 
As if to compare their structure, the two chains were brought 
into contact, when the links at the extremities of each joined 
together, and the two pieces became one uniform chain. In 
the same authorized and veracious record you may find other 
miracles, which, in different parts of Italy, move the intelligent 
travellers to laughter or disgust. The translation of the house 
of Loretto (the home where the Virgin Mary was born) 
through the air by the hands of angels from Palestine to the 
Papal States, is asserted in the collect for that festival ; which, 
being a direct address to the Deity, cannot be supposed to 
have been carelessly compiled ; and the account of the con- 
veyance is set forth in the Lessons. The extraordinary 
miracles of Saint Januarius, both during his life under Dio- 
cletian and in our own days, are stated with equal confidence 
and precision. That Saint, the legend says, being thrown into 
a burning furnace, came out so completely unhurt, that not 
even his clothes or his hair was singed. The next day all the 
wild beasts in the amphitheatre came crouching at his feet. 



24 



saint Patrick's woxders. 



I pass over the other ancient performances of Januarius, to 
shew the style in which his wonderful works after his death 
are given. His body, for instance, on one occasion extin- 
guished the flames of Vesuvius. Next comes that noble 
miracle — prceclarum Mud — the liquefaction of Januarius's 
blood, which did, and still does, take place every year in 
Naples.* 

It may be well to fix your mind for a moment on one 
point. How Ireland has been made what it is, you may find 
in the Breviary. Take the instance of its patron, Saint 
Patrick (372 — 464). The following is the tale which it tells 
of this pattern of Christian excellence. The holy Saint rises 
before daylight, and under the snows and rains of a northern 
winter begins his customary task of praying one hundred 
times in a day, and again one hundred times in a night. 
Such, the Breviary informs us, was his daily practice while 
still a layman and a slave. When raised to the see of Armagh, 
his activity in the external practice of prayer appears quite 
prodigious. In the first place, he repeated daily the one 
hundred and fifty psalms of the Psalter, with a collection of 
canticles and hymns and two hundred collects. The two 
hundred genuflexions of his youth were now increased to 
three hundred. The ecclesiastical day being divided into 
eight canonical hours, and each of these having one hundred 
blessings with the sign of the cross allotted by St. Patrick, 
his right hand must have performed that motion eight hundred 
times a day. After this distracting stir and hurry, the night 
brought little repose to the Saint. He divided it into three 
portions : in the first he recited one hundred psalms and 
knelt two hundred times. During the second, he stood im- 
mersed in cold water, repeating fifty psalms more, "with his 
heart, eyes and hands raised toward heaven." The third he 
gave up to sleep upon a stone pavement. 

* li Practical and Internal Evidence against Catholicism," by the Rev, 
Joseph Blanco WJiite, M.A., B.D., Letter VI. 2nd Ed., 1836. 



A CREDULOUS PRIESTHOOD, A CREDULOUS LAITY. 



25 



Try to make all this real. Suppose yourself thus occupied 
for one day and night, can you find leisure for anything else 1 
Can you crowd all this within the space of four-and-twenty 
hours ? Then carry the practices in imagination through one 
week : — can you endure so long ? One month 1 it is impos- 
sible. One year % you are a corpse long, long before twelve 
months have elapsed. 

But this is not all. "While he thus afforded to future 
days a specimen of holiness, he exercised himself in long 
readings, travelled over Gaul, Italy, and the islands of the 
Adriatic, and was called into Spain by a divine admonition. 
In his episcopal office it is wonderful what annoyances and 
labours he endured, and what adversaries he encountered. 
Such was his success in preaching the gospel, that Ireland, 
given to the worship of idols, came, under his influence, to 
be called the isle of Saints. Very large numbers of the popu- 
lation he baptized with his own hands; he ordained also 
bishops and very many priests, and led virgins and widows 
to become nuns. With the authority of the supreme Pontiff, 
he made Armagh the capital of the whole island, and deco- 
rated it with relics of the Saints brought from Rome. Adorned 
of God with supernal visions and great signs and wonders, he 
shone so resplendently, that his fame was spread far and 
wide with ever-increasing splendour. At length, worn out 
with ceaseless cares for the church, distinguished in word and 
deed, in extreme age, refreshed by divine revelations, he fell 
asleep in God"* (493 A.D.). 

Enough of the Breviary. Perhaps you fancy that the cre- 
dulity is restricted to the priests. If so, remember the priests 
were the channel of belief in my personality. But while it 
is difficult to find credulousness without a priest, others take 
part in the illustrative follies and frauds. 

Casanova, a Venetian, doomed to solitary imprisonment in 



* The Breviary Service for the 17th of March. 



26 HISTORY OF MARY BEGINNING IN HER MOTHER'S WOMB. 

the dungeons at Venice in 1755, speaks of one* of the only 
books he was allowed to read, in the following terms : "I 
there read all that is fitted to produce the excited imagination 
of a Spanish virgin extravagantly given to ascetic practices, 
living in a cloister, melancholy, having directors of her con- 
science—directors ignorant, false and ascetic. A friend and 
a lover of the holy Virgin, sister Mary of Agrada, had re- 
ceived directly from God an order to write the life of his 
divine mother. The necessary instructions for the purpose 
were furnished to her by the Holy Spirit. She commenced 
her life of Mary, not with the day of her birth, but at the 
moment of her immaculate conception in the womb of Anna 
her mother. After narrating in detail all that her divine heroine 
did during the nine months that she passed in her mother s 
bosom, she informs us that the Virgin at the age of three 
years kept her home in order with the aid of nine hundred 
domestics, all of whom were angels, under the control of their 
own prince, the archangel Michael. What strikes you in the 
book is the assurance, that whatever is said, is said in good 
faith. They are the visions of a soaring spirit, unshadowed 
by pride and inebriated of God, who believes that she reveals 
nothing but what she is inspired with by the Holy Spirit." 

A week's confinement to this volume produced such an 
effect on Casanova, who, though an unbeliever and a de- 
bauchee, was then enfeebled by melancholy, bad air and bad 
food, that his sleep was haunted and his waking hours dis- 
turbed by its horrible visions. Many years after, passing 
through Agrada, in Old Castile, he charmed the old priest of 
that village by speaking of the biographer of the virgin. The 
priest shewed him all the spots which were consecrated by 
her presence, and bitterly lamented that the court of Rome 
had refused to canonize her. It is the natural reflection of 
the writer that the book was well qualified to turn a solitary 

* La Cite Mystique de Soeur Marie de Jesus, appellee d' Agrada. 



VISIONS OF ANGELS AND DEVILS. 



27 



prisoner mad, or to make a man at large an atheist. It ought 
not to be forgotten, that the inquisitors of state at Venice who' 
prescribed this book, were probably of the latter persuasion- 
It is a striking instance of the infatuation of those who, in 
their eagerness to rivet the bigotry of the ignorant, use means 
which infallibly tend to spread utter unbelief among the 
educated. The book is a disgusting, but in its general out- 
line seemingly faithful, picture of the dissolute manners spread 
over the continent of Europe in the middle of the eighteenth 
century.* 

Fables of the kind abound in the popular and legendary 
literature of Eomanism wherever it bears sway. I confine 
myself to a few instances from France. The highest sanctity 
is no protection against monkish and sacerdotal superstition, 
credulity and delusion. St. Benedict saw the soul of St. 
Germain of Capua carried up to heaven by angels. Two 
monks saw the soul of St. Benedict walking on a carpet 
stretched from heaven down to mount Cassino. Saint Eu- 
cherius was conveyed by an angel clown into hell, where he 
saw the soul of Charles Mart el. A holy hermit of Italy saw 
devils, who hurried the soul of Dagobert into a barque, beating 
him all the while with sticks. 

Even the highest flights of French oratory are not free from 
the unclean leaven. The illustrious Bossuet, in his Oraison 
Funebre (Funeral Sermon) for the princess Palatine, reports 
two visions which acted powerfully on her royal highness, 
and which determined all her conduct in the last years of her 
life. He said, that the princess, after lending a hundred 
thousand francs to the Queen of Poland, her sister, sold the 
duchy of Eetelois for a million francs, and advantageously 
married her daughter, who was unable to enjoy her good for- 
tune because she doubted in regard to the Catholic religion. 

* Mackintosh's " View of the Progress of Ethical Philosophy," p. 298. 
Philadelphia, 1832. 



28 



bossuet's extravagant credulity. 



When her unhappy condition became known to her spiritual 
guides, a remedy was found. She was called back to the 
belief, and not the belief only, but to the love, of its ineffable 
verities by two visions. The first was a dream in which a 
man, born blind, told her that he had no idea of light, and 
that, as he did, she was to take the word of others as to 
things you cannot conceive yourself. The other was a violent 
concussion of the brain in an attack of fever. She saw a barn- 
door fowl running after one of her chickens which a dog held 
in his mouth. The princess tore the chicken out of the 
dog s jaws. A voice cried out, " Give him back his fowl ; if 
you rob him of his fowl, he will be a poor guard for you." 
" l\ r o !" exclaimed the princess, " I will never give it him 
back." That chicken was the soul of the princess Palatine 
herself, Anne de Gonzague ; the fowl was the Church ; the 
dog was the devil ; Anne de Gonzague, who would not give 
the chicken back to the dog, was effectual grace. 

Bossuet delivered the sermon in which this is found to 
the Carmelite nuns of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques in Paris, 
before the whole house of Conde, riveting his words by this 
remarkable sentence : 

" Listen ! Take special care not to despise divine admoni- 
tions and the guiding hand of Almighty Goodness." 

The Lord Jesus appeared to Saint Catharine of Sienna and 
made her his wife, giving her a ring as a token of the marriage. 
This apparition is described as credible, because it is attested 
by Eaimond of Capua, general of the Dominicans, who was the 
lady's confessor. It has also the attestation of Pope Urban 
IV. 

The apparition of La Mere Angelique, abbess of Port Eoyal, 
to sister Dorothy, is reported "by a man of great weight 
among the Jansenists," namely, Sieur Dufosse, author of "Lcs 
Memoires de Pontis." According to his averment, La Mere 
Angelique, long after her decease, came and took her old 
place in the Port Royal church, with her cross in her hand. 



SATAN THE CHURCH'S FLAGELLATOR. 



29 



She ordered her sister Dorothy to be sent for, to whom she 
communicated terrible secrets/'' 

Among the memorials of credulity and superstition of those 
who nourished me into a bloated personality, few surpass, and 
very few equal, the abuses connected with the flagellations 
inflicted by the sufferer's own hand, or that of an executioner, 
as a punishment for misconduct or misbelief and a discipline 
for spiritual growth and elevation. The instruments em- 
ployed are scourges, rods, or whip-cords. The parts chastised 
are the bare back or the posteriors. The former method is 
called the upper discipline ; the latter, the lower. The deli- 
cate nature of the subject compels me to be very particular 
in the selection of my materials ; lest, in trying to expose 
extravagance, I compromise the interests of modesty. More- 
over, my words must be few. 

Saint Hilarion was often exposed to the same chastisement 
of the scourge, administered by me, as the traditionalists affirm ; 
though why I should be anxious to promote the religious im- 
provement of such unsparing foes of mine as are the saints 
and the monks, I cannot imagine. Saint Jerome, however, 
is as good an authority as most other ecclesiastical reporters, 
and he, speaking of St. Anthony, declares : " This wanton 
gladiator (myself) bestrides him, beating his sides with his 
heels and his head with a scourge." A great many other 
Saints (if we may believe the legends) were exposed to similar 
treatment. The priest Grimlarcus, the author of an ancient 
Monastic Eide, declares that devils often insolently lay hold 
on men and lash them, in the same manner as they used to 
serve the blessed Anthony. Saint Francis d'Assisi, as is 
related in the Legenda Aurea (the Golden Legend), received 
a dreadful flagellation from me the first night he was in 
Kome. 

In the Life of Saint Anthony, written by Saint Athanasius, 

* Langlet sur les Apparitions, 4 vols. Voltaire, Die. Philos. I. 469 ; 
Ed. 1785. 



30 



THE MONK AND THE MAGPIE, 



you may read how that holy man was frequently lashed in 
his cell by myself. Some time, however (so calumny says), I 
employed temptations of a different kind in order to seduce 
him. Once, for instance, I appeared before the Saint in the 
shape of a beautiful young woman unclad. The celebrated 
engraver Calot has made one of my alleged visits to Saint 
Anthony the subject of a print, which is inscribed, "The 
Temptation of Saint Anthony." In it he represents a nume- 
rous swarm of devils pouring at once into the Saint's cavern, 
most various in size, countenance, posture, and armed with 
squirts, bellows, and other ludicrous weapons, illustrative of 
the religious taste of the age. 

The celebrated French printer, Henri Etienne, wrote his 
" Apologie pour Herodote " ( Apology for Herodotus) in order 
to shew that those who reject certain facts related by the 
Greek historian, on account of their incredibility, treat him 
with too much rigour, since a number of facts daily happen 
which are altogether as surprising as those that are found in 
that author. One of his instances follows : — A certain monk 
of Saint Anthony used on Sunday to preach in public in 
different villages within an easy walk from his monastery. 
One day he assembled his congregation under a tree on which 
a magpie had built her nest, in order to produce an over- 
whelming effect in favour of himself and his order in the not 
easily moved hearts of his hearers. In preparation for this 
decisive blow, he placed in the nest a small box filled with 
gunpowder. To this he attached a long, thin, pendent match. 
As soon as the end of the slowly burning match was set on 
fire by his assistant, he began his sermon. Meanwhile the 
magpie had returned to her nest, and finding in it a strange 
body which she could not eject, she fell into a passion and 
began to scratch with her feet and to chatter insufferably. 
The friar affected to hear her without being disturbed, and 
continued his sermon with full composure ; only he would 
now and then lift his eyes toward the top of the tree, as if 
he wanted to see what was the matter. At last, when he 



" saint anthoxy's fire.' 



31 



judged that the fire was near reaching the gunpowder, he 
pretended to be quite out of patience, and, as if bent on punish- 
ing the temerity of the disturber, he uttered a solemn ana- 
thema on the unfortunate bird. This done, he resumed his 
discourse. Scarcely, however, had he uttered three or four 
periods when the match, on a sudden, produced its effect, 
blowing up the magpie together with her nest. The astounded 
crowd fell on their knees before the monk in acknowledg- 
ment of his miraculous power. Another result was an im- 
mediate and long-continued influx of wealth into the coffers 
of the convent. 

A word or two of archaeological explanation will give point 
to the story. Saint Anthony was held to have the power of 
curing erysipelas, as Saint Hubert cured hydrophobia, Saint 
John epilepsy, and other Saints other disorders. The skill 
of Saint Anthony was denoted, in portraits of the Saint and 
pictures of his doings, by the not inappropriate symbol of 
fire. Hence the notion of " Saint Anthony's fire," and the 
great repute of his saintship in these particulars. The repute 
went so far as to give him wonderful command over fire in 
general, and in particular the power of destroying, by flashes 
of that element, those who incurred his displeasure. 

Credulity so extreme may now wear an appearance of im- 
possibility. Yet still have we stone statues that shed tears, 
and painted idols that roll their eyes. In order, however, to 
see how exactly such facts as I have now mentioned fit in 
the historical framework of the middle ages, you have only 
to study their manners and habits a little closely. In this 
matter of flagellation, for instance, the universality of the 
custom made it almost natural as well as proper. The supe- 
riors of convents and nunneries exercised the power of flagel- 
lation simply as a matter of course. Eishops, too, punished 
by the same means unfortunate defaulters in ascetic practices 
or sound doctrine. Of this a remarkable proof may be 
deduced from the 59th Epistle of Augustin, which he wrote 
to the tribune Marcellinus concerning the Donatists. The 



32 SATAN A CREATION OP THE IMAGINATION. 

Saint (to give hini his usual title) expresses himself in the 
following words : " Do not recede from that paternal diligence 
you have manifested in your researches after offenders, in 
which you have succeeded in procuring confessions of such 
great crimes, not by using racks and red-hot blades of iron, 
but only by the application of rods. This is a method of coer- 
cion which is frequently practised by teachers of the fine arts 
upon their pupils, by parents upon their children, and often 
also by bishops upon those whom they find to have been 
guilty of offences." Another instance of the same practice is 
found in the words in which Cyprian speaks of the modera- 
tion observed in such punishments by Cesarius, bishop of 
Aries : — " This holy man took constant care that those who 
were subjected to his authority, whether they were bond or 
free, when they were to be whipped for some offence they had 
committed, should not receive more than thirty-nine stripes. 
If any of them, however, had been guilty of a grievous fault, 
then, indeed, he permitted them to be again lashed a few 
days afterwards, though with a smaller number of stripes."* 

SECTION V. 

THE CREATIVE POWER OF THE IMAGINATION HAS CONTRIBUTED TO BELIEF 
IN A PERSONAL DEVIL ; THE FACT ILLUSTRATED FROM DANTE AND 
MILTON. 

The human imagination is capable of giving birth to dis- 
tortions the most grotesque and to figments the most unreal. 
What but its freaks are monstrosities such as the mermaid 
and the griffin 1 Already intelligence confesses that vampires, 
ghosts and spectres are nothing more substantial than rank 
products of turbid dreams or diseased fancy. And under the 
control of ignorance and barbarism, fancy is ever diseased, 
and dreams are no less turbid than monstrous. The state of 
mind which begot the unicorn begot me. I am simply a 

* Historia Flagellantium, by one who is not a Doctor of the Sorbonne 
(De Llome ?) ; third English Edition. 8vo. London, 1785. 



whence satan's hoofs and horns. 



33 



compound of ill-reputed features which belong to a score of 
the lower animals. My general form I get from the pagan 
satyr ; w T hence also come my hoofs and my shagginess ; while the 
goat supplies my horns and the bull and the ass my tail. The 
principle of ugliness presided at my birth, and had much to 
do in my bringing up. Hence my ordinary portraits are very 
unsightly. When, however, a great genius takes the pallet and 
the brush to paint my person, he produces something which, 
amidst all its deformities, is grand and imposing. Transcribe 
into your manuscript, my dear young friend, the likeness of 
me painted by the great creative poets, Dante and Milton. 

Dante's Satan. 
" The emperor of the kingdom dolorous." 
xx. 

11 Vexilla Regis prodeunt Inferni 

Towards us : therefore look in front of thee," 

My master said, " if thou discernest him." 
As, when there breathes a heavy fog, or when 

Our hemisphere is darkening into night, 

Appears far off a mill the wind is turning, 
Methought that such a building then I saw ; 

And for the wind, I drew myself behind 

My guide, because there was no other shelter. 
Now was I, and with fear in verse I put it, 

There where the shades were wholly covered up, 

And glimmered through like unto straws in glass. 
Some prone are lying, others stand erect, 

This with the head, and that one with the soles ; 

Another, bow-like, face to feet inverts. 
When in advance so far we had proceeded, 

That it my master pleased to shew to me 

The creature who once had the beauteous semblance, 
He from before me moved and made me stop, 

Saying, ' Behold^Dis, and behold the place 

Where thou with fortitude must arm thyself.' 
How frozen I became and powerless then, 

Ask it not, reader, for I write it not, 

Because all language would be insufficient 
I did not die, and I alive remained not ; 

I) 



dante's satan, by longfellow. 

Think for thyself now, hast thou aught of wit, 

What I became, being of both deprived. 
The emperor of the kingdom dolorous 

From his mid -breast forth issued from the ice ; 

And better with a giant I compare 
Than do the giants with those arms of his ; 

Consider now how great must be that whole, 

Which unto such a part conforms itself. 
Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, 

And lifted up his brow against his Maker ; 

Well may proceed from him all tribulation. 
0, what a maiwel it appeared to me, 

When I beheld three faces on Ms head ! 

The one in front, and that Termilion was ; 
Two were the others, that were joined with this 

Above the middle part of either shoulder, 

And they were joined together at the crest ; 
And the right-hand one seemed 'twixt white and yell 

The left was such to look upon as those 

Who came from where the Nile falls valley-ward. 
Underneath each came forth two mighty wings, 

Such as befitting were so great a bird ; 

Sails of the sea I never saw so large. 
No feathers had they, but as of a bat 

Their fashion was ; and he was waving them, 

So that three winds proceeded forth therefrom. 
Thereby Cocytus wholly was congealed. 

With six eyes did he weep, and down three chins 

Trickled the tear-drops and the bloody drivel. 
At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching 

A sinner, in the manner of a brake, 

So that he three of them tormented thus. 
To him in front the biting was as naught 

Unto the clawing, for sometimes the spine 

Utterly stripped of all the skin remained. 
; That soul up there which has the greatest pain, ' 

The master said, 1 is Judas Iscariot ; 

With head inside, he plies his legs without. 
Of the two others, who head downwards are, 

The one who hangs from the black jowl is Brutus ; 

See how he writhes himself, and speaks no word. 
And the other, who so stalwart seems, is Cassius. 

But night is re-ascending, and 'tis time 

That we depart, for we have seen the whole/" 



milton's sat ax. 



35 



This portrait of a drivelling devil is disgusting rather than 
formidable. Yet incisive is it enough to cut and leave an 
image of itself on the popular imagination. Whatever human 
feature is presented, if only it is human, stamps itself on the 
mind, and tends to make me a personal reality. It is, how- 
ever, to Milton's spirit of fire and plastic hand that I am 
most indebted. His Satan stands supreme. Specially is he 
the creative power and the solid support of the demonology 
of modern popular churches. Yet even this gigantic figure 
begins to pale and wane. 

Satan's Addkess to the Sun. 

" 0 thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned, 
Lookest from thy sole dominion like the God 
Of this new world ; at whose sight all the stars 
Hide their diminished heads ; to thee I call, 
But with no friendly voice ; and add thy name, 

0 Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams, 
That bring to my remembrance from what state 

1 fell, how glorious once — above thy sphere ; 
Till pride and worse ambition threw me down, 
Waning in heaven against heaven's matchless King. 
Ah ! wherefore ? He deserved no such return 
From me, whom he created what I was 

In that bright eminence, and with his good 
Upbraided none ; nor was his service hard. 
"What could be less than to afford him praise, 
The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks ? 
How due ! yet all his good proved ill in me, 
And wrought but malice ; lifted up so high, 
I'sdained subjection, and thought one step higher 
Would set me highest, and in a moment quit 
The debt immense of endless gratitude, 
So burdensome ; still paying, still to owe ; 
Forgetful what from him I still received ; 
And understood not that a grateful mind 
By owing owes not, but still pays, at once 
Indebted and discharged ; what burden then ? 
0 had his powerful destiny ordained 
Me some inferior angel, I had stood 
Then happy ; no unbounded hope had raised 



milton's satan 



Ambition ! Yet why not ? Some other power 

As great might have aspired, and me, though mean, 

Drawn to his part ; but other powers as great 

Fell not, but stand unshaken, from within 

Or from without, to all temptations armed. 

Hadst thou the same free will and power to stand ? 

Thou hadst : whom hast thou then or what to accuse — 

But heaven's free love dealt equally to all? 

Be then his love accursed ; since love or hate, 

To me alike, it deals eternal woe : 

Nay, cursed be thou ; since against his thy will 

Chose freely what it now so justly rues. 

Me miserable ! which way shall I fly 

Infinite wrath and infinite despair ? 

Which way I fly is hell ; myself am hell ; 

And in the lowest deep a lower deep 

Still threatening to devour me opens wide ; 

To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven. 

0 then at last relent : is there no place 

Left for repentance, none for pardon left ? 

None left but by submission ; and that word 

Disdain forbids me, and my dread of shame 

Among the spirits beneath ; whom I seduced 

With other promises and other vaunts 

Than to submit ; boasting I could subdue 

The Omnipotent. Ah me ! they little know 

How dearly I abide that boast so vain ; 

Under what torments inwardly I groan ; 

While they adore me on the throne of hell : 

With diadem and sceptre high advanced, 

The lower still I fall ; only supreme 

In misery : such joy ambition finds. 

But say I could repent, and could obtain 

By act of grace my former state ; how soon 

Would height recall high thoughts, how soon unsay 

What feigned ambition swore ! Ease would recant 

Yows made in pain, as violent and void. 

For never can true reconcilement grow 

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep ; 

Which would but lead me to a worse relapse 

And heavier fall : so should I purchase dear 

Short intermission bought with double smart. 

This knows my Punisher ; therefore as far 



IS ONLY A HUGE, BAD MAN. 



37 



From granting he, as I from begging peace ; 
All hope excluded thus ; behold instead 
Of us outcast, exiled, his new delight, 
Mankind, created, and for him this world. 
So, farewell hope, and with hope, farewell fear ; 
Farewell remorse : all good to me is lost ; 
Evil, be thou my good ; by thee at least 
Divided empire with heaven's King I hold, 
By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign ; 
As man ere long and this new world shall know. 

Thus while he spake, each passion dimmed his face, 
Thrice changed with pale ire, envy, and despair ; 
Which marred his borrowed visage, and betrayed 
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld : 

* * * Whereof he soon aware, 

Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm, 
Artificer of fraud ; and was the first 
That practised falsehood under saintly show, 
Deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge. 1 ' 

What is this but man — man from first to last 1 A noble 
if a ruined man; such a man as only the grand soul of 
Milton could have drawn. Those strong, deep, violent and 
rapidly interchanging passions are strictly human. Human 
too is the touch of tenderness, the starting tear, the momen- 
tarily yielding soul you find here. Emphatically human is 
the intimately connected chain of reasoning that runs through 
all and incessantly leading wrong, closing the avenues of 
instinctive feeling. Then how fine the contrast between the 
master passion, ambition, and nascent submission, the sole 
road open to returning peace ! 

There is, however, one phrase which stamps the whole with 
the true features of humanity, " myself am hell." Yes, the 
only true hell is the wicked man himself. And thus it is seen 
that I am no proper devil, but human sin and human suffering 
personified. Thus can you explain how it is that in this sub- 
lime portrait qualities so great are interwoven with passions 
so diabolical ? And so we may be justified in declaring Milton's 
Paradise Lost a spiritual allegory, painting to the eye, the 



38 SATANISM AX ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN EVIL, 

head, the heart, the foulness and terror of rebellion against 
the Author and Governor of the universe. In this view, 
the sublime poem is a theodicy illustrating and vindicating 
the course of Divine Providence, and especially "justifying 
the ways of God to man." I seem to myself to have here 
touched on the thought which accounts for and explains all 
that lias been said and written on the dark and perplexed 
subject of demonology. 

Moreover, with the sublime creation before us at this 
moment, you will readily see that the huge, grostesque, fan- 
tastic and repulsive pictures given of me by Milton as well 
as Dante and others, do not describe real bodily conditions, 
as indeed appears from their mutual contradictions, but are 
symbols of moral deformities so foul and terrible as to demand 
for their expression an appeal to the external senses. 

Another conclusion ensues from these poetic lessons. Clearly 
I, in my worst, that is my essential features, am here at a 
great distance from my zenith. If the soul of Milton may 
in any considerable degree be taken as the type and measure 
of his age, the world is now growing too cultured and too 
wise to be wholly satisfied with the fond devilisms of the 
middle ages. 

SECTION VI. 

FEAR EXGEXDERS MEXTAL DECEPTIONS, EXCLUDING BELIEF IX A PER-OXAL 
DEVIL ; THE TERRIFYIXG PULPIT ; THE HERALDS' COLLEGE OF DEMON* 
OLCGT ; SATAXIC ARISTOCRACY ; VULGAR DEVILS. 

Timor fecit deos. If the Latin poet is right in declaring 
that fear made his gods, he would not have been wrong had 
he asserted the same of devils. Fear is the prolific fountain 
of devilry. Had man not been a victim of fear, I should never 
have lived. Pear, the primal source of devilism, still over- 
flows with its bitter and loathsome waters. 

Xo fear so powerful as that which is begotten on false 
religion. In superstitious fear lies the great lever of the 



FEAR THE DEVIL'S FATHER, 



39 



papacy. By this mighty force its priests hold millions and 
millions of the human race in a state either of brutish sub- 
jection or of ever-recurring alarm and distress. Wielding 
the thunder-bolts of high heaven, they deal damnation over 
the earth, which, though they fall harmless on Protestant 
lands, still strike terror into multitudes of the lowest sorts in 
the two hemispheres, as if the pains of purgatory and the 
torments of hell for ever depended on their nod. Horrible 
abuse of the simple, liberal and loving religion of Jesus of 
Nazareth ! To do however little toward relaxing chains 
so galling and so debasing is reward enough for angelic 
succour, and yet even I aspire to the high and unfading dis- 
tinction. For that purpose I lay to the charge of the Chris- 
tian pulpit the discreditable task of impregnating the public 
mind with belief in me. 

Take a specimen from the discourse entitled 66 Admonition 
to the Fallen," by Basil, bishop of Csesarea (329 — 379) : 

" Think too of thy last day ; — of the distress and the 
anguish as the hour of death draws nearer, of the impending 
sentence of God, of the angels moving on rapid wing, of the 
soul fearfully agitated by all these things, and bitterly tor- 
mented with a guilty conscience, and clinging pitifully to the 
things here below, and still under the inevitable necessity of 
taking its departure. Picture to thy mind the final dissolu- 
tion of all that belongs to our present life, when the Son of 
Man shall come in his glory, with his holy angels ; for 1 he 
shall come and shall not keep silence to judge the living 
and the dead, and to render to every man according to his 
work : when the trumpet, with its loud and terrible echo, 
shall awaken those who have slept from the beginning of the 
world, and they shall come forth, they that have clone good 
to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the 
resurrection of damnation : when the Ancient of days will sit 
on his throne like the fiery flame, and its wheels as burning 
fire. A fiery stream issues from his presence. Where then 
shall thy soul hide itself I In what body can it endure those 



40 PULPIT TERRORS CREATE AND SUPPORT DEVILISM. 

unbounded and intolerable torments of the unquenchable 
fire, and the tortures of the undying worm, and the dark and 
frightful abyss of hell, and the bitter howlings and woful 
wailings, and weeping and gnashing of teeth ; — and all those 
dire woes without end ? Deliverance from these after death 
there is none : neither is there any device or contrivance for 
escaping these bitter torments. But now it is possible to 
escape them,"* &c. 

The next specimen is from " The Fig-tree" of John Bunyan 
(1628—1688): 

" And now he (Christ) begins to shake the fig-tree with his 
threatenings. 'Fetch out the axe.' Now the axe is death. 
Death therefore is called for. 1 Death, come, smite me this 
fig-tree.' And withal the Lord shakes this sinner and whirls 
him upon a sick bed, saying, 6 Take him, Death. He hath 
abused my patience and forbearance, not remembering that it 
should have led him to repentance, and to the fruits thereof. 
Death, fetch away this fig-tree to the fire, fetch this barren 
professor to hell !' At this, Death comes with grim locks 
into the chamber ; yea, and Hell follows to the bed-side, and 
both stare this professor in the face ; yea, begin to lay hands 
upon him, one smiting him with pains in his body, with 
head-ache, heart-ache, back-ache, shortness of breath, fainting 
qualms, trembling of joints, stopping at the chest, and almost 
all the symptoms of a man past recovery. Now, while Death 
is thus tormenting the body, Hell is doing with the mind 
and conscience, striking them with its pains, casting* sparks of 
fire in thither, wounding with sorrows and fears of everlasting 
damnation the spirit of this poor creature. 

"These tilings proving ineffectual, God sends a series of 
terrors, each worse than its predecessor. He takes hold of 
his axe again, and sends death to his wife, to his child, to his 
cattle. 4 Your young men have I slain, and taken away your 

* These extracts are taken from "History and Repository of Pulpit Elo- 
quence/' by Henry C. Fish. 2 vols, small quarto. New York, 1857. 



bunyan's sulphurous terrors. 



41 



horses.' I will blast him, cross him, disappoint him, and 
cast him down, and will set myself against him in all he 
putteth his hand unto. . . . Now the axe begins to be heaved 
higher. ' I smote thee, jet thou hast not turned unto me, 
saith the Lord. In thy fllthiness is lewdness. Because I 
have purged thee and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not 
be purged from thy fllthiness any more, till I have caused my 
fury to rest upon thee. Cut it down ; why doth it cumber 
the ground V But to give a few particulars of this man's 
dying : 1. His fruitless fruit beleaguers him around his bed. 

2. Some terrible discovery terrifies his guilty conscience. 

3. Terrors take hold of him when he sees the yawning jaws 
of death gape upon him. 4. By reason of guilt his life hangs 
in continual doubt before him, and he is afraid day and night. 
5. Want comes up against him, like an armed man. 6. Together 
with these stand by the companions of death — death and 

HELL, DEATH AND DEVILS, DEATH AND ENDLESS TORMENT IN 
THE EVERLASTING FLAMES OF DEVOURING FIRE. 

" Death is at work, cutting him down, hewing both back 
and heart, both body and soul asunder. The man groans, 
but Death hears him not ; he looks ghastly, distressingly, 
dejectedly ; he sighs, he sweats, he trembles — Death matters 
nothing. Fearful symptoms haunt him; misgivings, direful 
apprehensions of God terrify him. Now he hath time to 
think what the loss of heaven will be, and what the torments 
of hell will be ; now he looks no way, but he is frighted. 

" Now would he live, but may not ; he would live, though it 
were but the life of a bed-ridden man, but must not. He 
that cuts him down sways him, as the feller of wood sways 
the tottering tree — now this way, then that ; — at last a root 
breaks, a heart-string, an eye-string snaps asunder ! 

"And now, could the soul be annihilated or brought to 
nothing, how happy would it count itself ! But it sees that 
may not be. Wherefore it is put to a wonderful strait. Stay 
in the body it may not ; go out of the body it dares not. Life 



42 



john Wesley's " great assize/ 5 



is going ; the blood settles in the flesh, and the lungs being 
no more able to draw breath through the nostrils, at last out 
goes the weary, trembling soul, and is immediately seized by 
devils, who lie lurking in every hole in the chamber for that 
very purpose. His friends take care of the body, and wrap it 
up in the sheet or coffin ; but the soul is out of their thought 
and reach, going down to the chambers of death I" 

John Wesley (1703 — 1791) must not be overlooked. What 
ensues is taken from his sermon entitled " The Great Assize 

" The wicked shall be turned into hell, even all the people 
that forget God. They will be punished with everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
glory of his power. They will be cast into the lake of fire 
burning with brimstone, originally prepared for the devil and 
his angels, where they will gnaw their tongues for anguish 
and pain, they will curse God and look upward. There the 
dogs of hell — pride, nralice, revenge, rage, horror, despair — 
continually devour them. There they have no rest day or 
night, but the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and 
ever ; for their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 
Then the heavens will be shrivelled up as a parchment scroll. 

See ! see ! He cometh ! He maketh the clouds his 
chariot ! He rideth upon the wings of the wind ! A de- 
vouring fire goeth before him r and after him a flame burnetii ! 
See ! He sitteth upon his throne, clothed with light as with 
a garment, arrayed with majesty and honour ! Behold, his 
eves are as a flame of fire, his voice as the sound of many 
waters ! How will ye escape '? Will ye call to the moun- 
tains to fall on you, the rocks to cover you ? Alas ! the 
mountains themselves, the rocks, the earth, the heavens, are 
just ready to flee away ! Can ye prevent the sentence ? 
Wherewith'? With all. the substance of thy house, with 
thousands of gold and silver ? Blind wretch ! Thou earnest 
naked from thy mother's womb, and worse than naked thou 
<?oest into eternity. Hear the Judge ! Hear that voice which 



WHITFIELD "A FACTOR FOR THE DEVIL." 



43 



echoes through the expanse of heaven : 6 Depart, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire ! ' Lo, hell is moved from beneath to 
receive those who are ripe for destruction." 

George Whitfield (1714 — 1770) shall supply a few words 
from his discourse on " The Kingdom of God : " 

" I was long niyself deceived with a form of godliness, and 
I know what it is to be a factor for the devil, to be led captive 
by the devil at his will, to have the kingdom of the devil in 
my heart ; and I hope I can say, through free grace, I know 
what it is to have the kingdom of God in me. . . How, when 
the Sabbath is over, and the evening is drawing near, me- 
thinks the very sight is awful to think in how short a time 
every soul of you must die — some of you to go to heaven, and 
others to go to the devil for evermore ! . . . 0 my dear friends, 
these are matters of eternal moment. Are you willing 1 Then 
Christ is willing to come to you. But you may say, Will 
Christ come to my wicked heart ? Yes, though you may have 
many devils in your heart, Christ will come and erect his 
throne there ; though the devils be in your heart, the Lord 
Jesus will scourge out a legion of devils, and his throne shall 
be exalted in thy soul. . . . Fly then for your lives ! The 
devil is in you while unconverted ; and will you go with the 
devil in your heart to bed this night ? " 

I terminate these illustrations of the way in which the 
pulpit has established on earth the throne of a personal devil 
by a quotation from Jonathan Edwards' (1703 — 1758) Dis- 
course on " Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God :" 

" There is nothing which keeps wicked men out of hell 
but the mere pleasure of God. God is not only able to cast 
wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. They 
deserve to be cast into hell. Every unconverted man pro- 
perly belongs to hell. They are now the objects of that 
very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the 
torments of hell. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with 
many that are now in this congregation, that, it may be, are 
at ease and quiet, than he is with many of those that are in 



44 JONATHAN EDWARDS 5 HORRORS OF HELL. 

the flames of hell. The wrath of God burns against them. 
Their damnation does not slumber. The pit is prepared. 
The fire is made ready. The furnace is now hot, ready to 
receive them ; the flames do now rage and glow. The devil 
stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at 
what moment God shall permit. They belong to him ; he 
has their souls in his possession and under his dominion. 
The scripture represents them as his goods. The devils watch 
them. They are ever by them at their right hand. They 
stand waiting for them, like greedy, hungry lions that see 
their prey and expect to have it, but are for the present kept 
back : if God should withdraw his hand by which they are 
restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor 
souls. The old serpent is gaping for them. There is laid in 
the very nature of cursed men a foundation for the torments 
of hell. Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their 
own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure 
them a moment. Whatever pains a natural man takes in 
religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, 
God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment 
from eternal destruction. So that thus it is that natural men 
are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell ; they have 
deserved the fiery pit, and are always sentenced to it : and 
God is dreadfully provoked ; his anger is as great toward 
them as to those that are actually suffering the execution of 
the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing 
in the least to appease or abate that anger ; neither is God in 
the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment. 
The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, and 
would fain lay hold on them and swallow them up ; the fire 
pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out ; and 
they have no interest in any Mediator ; there are no means 
within reach that can be any security to them. In short, 
they have no refuge, nothing to lay hold of ; all that preserves 
them every moment is the mere arbitrary will and unco- 
venanted, unobliged forbearing of an incensed God. The 



DEMONOLOGY BECOMES A SCIENCE. 



45 



God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds 
some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dread- 
fully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire. He 
looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into 
the fire. You hang by a slender thread with the flames of 
divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to 
burn it asunder. God will have no compassion, no mercy, no 
moderation. He will only laugh and mock. How many, is 
it likely, will remember this discourse in hell 1 And it would 
be a wonder if some that are now present should not be in 
hell in a very short time, before this year is out. And it 
would be no wonder if some persons that now sit here in 
some seats of this meeting-house in health, and quiet and 
secure, should be there before to-morrow morning." 

In transcribing, especially the last passage, I almost feel as 
if the God there described and myself, as popularly described, 
had changed places. Certainly the heart of the preacher must 
have been in one of those morbid states which engender 
mental deceptions of the most fearful nature. 

In addition to these indirect but very effectual methods 
of making the world believe in me, direct means were taken 
for the same result. In the dark ages of European history, 
Demonology became a science. In some sort it had its 
Heralds' College, whose business it was to classify demons 
in such a way as to do and secure graduated justice to the 
infernal aristocracy. This would be satisfactorily done only 
by ascertaining what rank in the celestial hierarchy had been 
originally held by this devil and that. Here the schoolmen 
were busy. In " the Fall," what orders of angels were in- 
volved The momentous question received something like a 
final answer. Lucifer was a Seraph ; Agares, Belial and 
Barbatos, were of the order of Virtues ; Bileth, Forcalor and 
Phoenix, of the order of Thrones ; Goap, of the order of 
Powers ; Purson, of Virtues and Thrones ; and Murmur, of 
Thrones and Angels. Then came the inquiry, How many 
angels engaged in the revolt 1 Another weighty point was, 



46 



THE DIABOLICAL HIERAECHY. 



Where did the battle take place ? Another, How long did it 
last ? Mark the precision of the answer given : " It lasted 
three seconds." Somehow, while Lucifer with his followers 
fell into hell, the rest of the rebels were, it was concluded, 
left in the air to tempt man. A most interesting question 
was that which asked, Whether more angels fell with me 
than remained in heaven with Michael ? It was a knotty 
point. They might have known all about it, had they ap- 
pealed to myself; but I fancy the answer would not have 
suited them, for I should have told them that the whole was 
a silly fable. Indeed, one grain of common sense would have 
spared the doctors a world of trouble, and saved society from 
terrific falsities. 

The actual decision was, that I had been beaten by a superior 
force. Hence an inference, which scarcely agrees with the 
ordinary notion, that the devils are as numerous as human 
beings — the inference that devils of darkness were fewer in 
number than angels of light. 

These preliminaries being settled, the learning of Christen- 
dom undertook to restore some degree of order in my routed 
forces. Hence extensive districts were allotted to certain of 
my leading subordinates. There was Zemimar, " the lordly 
monarch of the Xorth," as Shakespeare styles him. There 
was Gorson, king of the South ; Amayon, king of the East ; 
and Goap, prince of the West, These sovereigns had under 
them many spirits with blood as blue as that of the Howards 
or of William the Conqueror. They were classed as Devil 
Dukes, Devil Marquises, Devil Counts, Devil Earls, Devil 
Knights, Devil Presidents, and (alas !) Devil Prelates. 

You ask me, my patient listener, if I can trace the descent 
of any of these, my subjects, down into lofty personages of 
to-day, and, shrinking from the responsibility, I say in reply : 
" Present company always excepted ; " though I possess genea- 
logical registers which, if ever published, will display before 
the eyes of the world much impurity of heart combined with 
undoubted purity of Ixlood, in the case of many who have 



MILLIONS OF DF-VILS WAGE WAR OX MEN. 



47 



occupied earthly thrones and worn glittering coronets, to say 
nothing of cardinals' hats and papal tiaras. — But (excuse me 
in this request) be so good as to interrupt rny narrative as 
little as possible. 

To resume : Without undertaking to guarantee the figures. 
I must continue these wonderful discoveries, which throw 
those of jftewton, Dalton and Liebig into the shade. My 
armed force comprised nearly twenty-four hundred legions. 
Xow, as under the Eomans two legions constituted a con- 
sular army, I had under my command 1200 armies ; and as a 
legion may be roughly estimated as containing 6000 soldiers, 
my forces amounted to 14,400,000 men. This was a terrible 
pest to be let loose against the human race. Had I, being 
such as I am pictured by others, been in supreme command, 
I could hardly, methinks, have done a more unjust and cruel 
thing. However, eighty-five of my legions were, those high 
authorities declare, commanded by Eeleth : Agares, the first 
duke under the Power of the East, led thirty-one legions; 
Leraie, a great Marquis, thirty legions ; Morax, a great Earl, 
thirty-six legions ; Furcas, a knight, twenty legions. It 
would be easy to carry the enumeration farther. Enough 
surely to explain how with these exact particulars, proceeding 
from the highest authorities of the day, belief in me as a 
personal fiend struck vigorous roots deep in the heart of 
society.* 

Xo less effectual was another resource. Mediaeval Chris- 
tianity, in appealing to the senses, sagaciously preferred the 
eye as a channel to the mind and the heart. Hence pictures, 
carvings and engravings of various kind, infusing what were 
thought religious ideas by means of symbols. Here fear ran 
riot. On the assumption that devil and deformity were iden- 
tical, I and mine were presented to credulous men, women 
and children, in forms which were impressive and lasting 

* Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, xv. 2 ; Hibbert's Philosophy of 
Apparitions, xiii. 



48 ARMORIAL BEARINGS IN SATAN'S KINGDOM. 

in the degree in which they were caricatures of everything 
human and bestial, and that the more, because was it not well 
known that devils possessed the power of indefinite self- 
transfiguration, and had an invincible propensity for ugliness 
and monstrosity ? " When (says Dr. Hibbert), in the middle 
ages, conjuration was regularly practised in Europe, devils of 
rank were supposed to appear under decided forms, by which 
they were as well recognized as the head of any ancient 
family would be by his crest and armorial bearings. Along 
w T ith their names and characters were registered such shapes 
as they were accustomed to adopt. A devil would appear 
either like an angel seated in a fiery chariot ; or riding on an 
infernal dragon and carrying in his right hand a viper • or 
assuming a lion's head, the feet of a goose, and a hare's tail ; 
or putting on a raven's head, and mounted on a strong wolf. 
Other forms made use of by demons were those of a fierce 
warrior, or of an old man riding on a crocodile with a hawk 
in his hand. A human figure would arise having the wings 
of a griffin ; or sporting three heads, two of them being like 
those of a toad and of a cat ; or defended with huge teeth and 
horns, and armed with a sword • or displaying a dog's teeth 
and a large raven's head ; or mounted upon a pale horse, and 
exhibiting a serpent's tail ; or gloriously crowned and riding 
upon a dromedary ; or presenting the face of a lion ; or be- 
striding a bear and grasping a viper. A demoniacal king would 
ride upon a pale horse, or would assume a leopard's face and 
griffin's wings, or put on the three heads of (1) a bull, (2) a 
man, and (3) a ram; taking also a serpent's tail and the feet of 
a goose ; and in this attire sit on a dragon and bear in his 
hand a lance and a flag ; or, instead, goad the flanks of a 
furious bear and carry in his fist a hawk. Other forms were 
those of a goodly knight ; or of one who bore lance, ensigns, 
and even sceptre ; or of a soldier, either riding a black horse 
and surrounded with a flame of fire ; or wearing a duke's 
crown and mounted on a crocodile; or assuming a lion's face, 
and, with fiery eyes, spurring on a gigantic charger ; or, with 



DIABOLICAL MONSTROSITIES. 



49 



the same frightful aspect, appearing in all the pomp of family 
distinction on a pale horse ; or clad from head to foot in 
crimson raiment, wearing on his bold front a crown and 
sallying forth on a red steed. Some infernal duke would 
appear in his proper character quietly seated on a griffin ; 
another spirit of a similar rank would display the three heads 
of a serpent, a man, and a cat ; he would also bestride a 
viper, and carry in his hand a firebrand ; another, of the 
same stamp, would appear like a duchess, encircled with a 
fiery zone and mounted on a camel ; a fourth would wear 
the aspect of a boy and amuse himself on the back of a two- 
headed dragon. A few spirits, however, would be content 
with the simple garb of a horse, a leopard, a lion, a unicorn, 
a night raven, a stork, a peacock, or a dromedary ; the latter 
animal speaking fluently the Egyptian language. Others 
would assume the more complex forms of a lion or a dog, 
with a griffin's wings attached to each of their shoulders ; or 
of a bull equally well gifted; or of the same animal dis- 
tinguished by the singular appendage of a man's face j or of 
a crow clothed with human flesh ; or of a hart with a fiery 
tail. To certain other noble devils were assigned such shapes 
as those of a dragon with three heads, one of those being 
human ; of a wolf with a serpent's tail, breathing forth flames 
of fire ; of a she-wolf, exhibiting the same caudal appendage, 
together with a griffin's wings, and ejecting from her mouth 
hideous matter. A lion would appear either with the head 
of a branded thief, or astride upon a black horse, and playing 
with a viper, or adorned with the tail of a snake, and grasping 
in his paws two hissing serpents. These were the varied 
shapes assumed by devils of rank. In an ancient Latin 
poem, describing the lamentable vision of a devoted hermit 
and supposed to have been written by St. Bernard in the year 
1238, vulgar devils appear whose business on earth was merely 
to carry away condemned souls. These are described as blacker 
than pitch ; having teeth like lions, nails on their fingers like 
those of a wild boar, on their foreheads horns, through the 

E 



50 



VULGAR DEVILS. 



extremities of which poison was emitted • having wide ears 
flowing with corruption, and discharging serpents with their 
nostrils. The devout writer of these verses has even accom- 
panied them with drawings, in which the addition of the 
cloven foot is not omitted. But this appendage, as Sir 
Thomas Brown has learnedly proved, is a mistake, which has 
arisen from the devil frequently appearing to the Jews in 
the shape of a rough and hairy goat, this animal being the 
emblem of sin-offerings. It is worthy of further remark, that 
the form of the demons described by St. Bernard differs 
little from that which is no less carefully portrayed by Regi- 
nald Scot 350 years later, and perhaps by the demonologists 
of the present day. " In our childhood," says he, " our 
mothers' maids have so terrified us with an ouglie devil having 
homes on his head, fire in his mouth, and a taile in his breech, 
eyes like a basin, fangs like a dog, clawes like a beare, a skin 
like a niger, and a voice roaring like a lion, — whereby we start 
and are afraid when we hear one cry Dough (Bogie, 'Old 
Bogie')".* 



* Hibbert's Philosophy of Apparitions, p. 122, seq. 



THE ORIGIN OF MAN AND THAT OF SATAN THE SAME. 51 



BOOK II. 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION. 



CHAPTEE I. 

MY ORIGIN AND PROGRESS. 



SECTION I. 

MY EMBRYONIC CONDITION. 

I was born in a sweltering vale of Upper Egypt. The 
date I cannot give, as my chronology goes so ranch farther 
back than that of Archbishop Usher, that I have no mile- 
stones to take for my measnres. Nor can I determine whether 
my parents belonged to the present geological period, or to 
one of an earlier date. If now they appear only in a fossil 
state, they had, at the time I came into existence, mnch the 
same qualities as characterize human beings at the present 
day. Only that those qualities were of a rougher and sterner 
kind than those that belong to these civilized ages. Indeed, 
evolution and progress have marked as man's so my steps out 
of that darkness into this light. The first link of that advanc- 
ing series I venture not to define. It may have been, as the 
Scripture says, "the ground" or "the dust of the earth" 
(Gen. ii. 19, iii. 17) ; it may have been some anthropomorphic 
organism, which grew into an ape before it became a man. The 
second source is the more elevated, and as such presupposes 
the Divine hand more markedly. But as the lower can never 
produce the higher ; since no being can give what he does 
not possess ; so only from the One Perfect and Infinite Will 

e 2 



•52 



SATAN BORN OF A CONFLAGRATION. 



can the human race have sprung, whether in its infancy or in 
its manhood. Hence as the child of human nature, my origin is 
divine. Equally certain is it that the moral discipline which 
I represent has an aim and a tendency no less effectual than 
benevolent. 

It was autumn. The weather had been intensely sultry. 
The river had inundated the neighbouring plains. The 
thinly scattered human population were driven into a neigh- 
bouring forest. A thunder-storm broke forth, driving hus- 
bands, wives and children into the heart of the woods. 
Then, of a sudden, a flash of lightning set the trees on fire. 
They blazed up on all sides, and were* soon nothing but a 
mass of burning ashes. 

Only one man escaped. It was the chief of the small tribe. 
He had paid a visit to a neighbour's hunting-ground, and 
now he slowly made his way back to his covert, in a grove 
or outpost of the perishing forest. Warned by the intense 
heat and dazzling glow, he stopped on his approach at a 
short distance, and watched the rushing flames, stupefied 
with terror, alarm and grief. Where was his young wife 1 
where his two lovely children? where his little all? and 
where would the conflagration stop 1 

He knelt down instinctively in awe and dread before this 
fell destroyer. He knelt down • his heart was big with a 
choking emotion ; — he knelt down ; it was all he could do ; but 
the act was a silent supplication. 

In that supplicating act I received life. I was the thun- 
derer, the dark and all but impersonal cause of that wide-spread 
ruin and woe. I repeat, all but impersonal cause, for that 
barbarian was hardly self-conscious. As yet he was a con- 
stituent part of the outer universe. He went up and down 
the land and the water; he passed the trees or sat beneath 
their shadow ; he played with the fawn and revelled among 
the fish ; he looked at the stars, and gazed on sun and moon, 
almost as if he and they were each and all members of the 
same strange world in and around him. Indeed, the chief 



SATAN KNEELS TO GOD. 



53 



was in birth rather than in being. Embryonic himself, he 
could at best produce only embryons. Already had the 
prolific earth and the majestic skies quickened his mind with 
a faint notion of a Good Power who, being good, could not 
be the author of this terrific destruction. Whence then was 
it ? It came from some Evil Spirit. These were but shadows 
(one somewhat light, the other very dark) in that infantile 
mind. Shadows so thin and evanescent were they, that to put 
them, as I am doing, into words, is to give them form and 
hue far too real and definite. 

And yet something had brought him to his knees. It was 
for the first time. No ! he had not kneeled to the Good 
Spirit. Only can the terror of the tempest move that hard 
and unimpressible heart. 

Nevertheless, it was chaos, blind, confused, in some sense 
empty chaos, in the bosom of that wild man of the woods. 
What may come of that inner whirl, who can tell % It may 
sink into stolid stupidity. It may emerge into self-conscious- 
ness, producing somewhat clear recognitions. At present all 
is embryonic, 

SECTION II. 

MY BIRTH. 

When the flames ceased for want of fuel, our chief was 
still sitting alone on the summit of a ridge of hills which ran 
parallel with the stream. There he sat day and night for I 
know not how long, darkly musing on the disastrous event. 
At the end of that time he felt as if he had received a blow 
in his inner nature. Exhausted with fatigue, worn out by 
intensity of sentiment, unfed, unrefreshecl by water or sleep, 
he fell under the stroke, and lay prostrate on the soil, — a 
victim to a raging fever. 

Days passed and nights passed ; the sun and moon rose 
and set ; fair weather returned ; the air was alive with the 
flight and the buzz of insects ; and the roar of the lion echoed 



54 



SATAN BROUGHT TO CONSCIOUSNESS. 



from a distance : but nothing awoke him from his stupor 
of mind. 

One morning at early dawn he opened his eyes ; he opened 
them only to let the lashes languidly fall. Hours fled away, 
and he opened them again. The awakening power was his 
wife, who bent over him, and with her warm breath, her 
soothing hand, her kindling words, brought back his departing 
spirit, and he looked as if he saw some one \ he looked again, 
and smiled. 

His self-consciousness came and came in a less vague and 
impersonal form. He knew his wife, and, knowing her, he 
knew himself. 

The knowledge in time gave distinctness to his mental con- 
ceptions of outer things, and by and by he knew the Good 
Spirit, and no less the Bad Spirit. But for the antithesis he 
could not have known either, and he knew both the better 
from their contrasted character and reciprocated influence. 

In that knowledge I was truly born. I was the dark and 
evil shadow of that sunny reality. I was the opposite of that 
bright and pleasing dream. My darkness made the retention 
of that serene light possible. But for me, the chief must 
have attributed the devastating storm and the consuming 
conflagration to the Good Spirit. The act would, with this 
infant of barbarism, have extinguished the sole glimmer of 
hope and trust he had. Out of that glimmer, thus preserved, 
sprang religion. And thus in those primordial days I was 
not an unessential element in the first acts of worship by 
which man's spirit lifted itself up toward the descending spirit 
of God. 

I have revealed the secret of my birth. I am a child of 
the hurricane and the deluge and devastation and fever and 
suffering and woe. The womb that bore me is the human 
mind in its half chaotic state, as occasioned by external 
calamity and internal meditation. Human in my birth, I am 
human in my character. As the sunderance between evil and 
good, darkness and light in man, is never exact and complete, 



SATAN BECOMES ADULT. 



55 



I derive from my parentage a streak or two of sunshine ; but 
as I am in virtue of my existence the contradiction of good, 
I share in all that is bad and dark in human nature. Those 
evil dispositions are exaggerated by being seen through the 
darkened medium of fear and dread. A terrified imagination 
throws my bad qualities into distorted and monstrous propor- 
tions. And ever as a period of trouble and distress passes, 
in tempest, war or famine, over the earth, I am seen by the 
discoloured eyes of mortals in hues the deepest and features 
the most repulsive, 

SECTION III. 

MY EDUCATION, 

Born together with my twin brothers and sisters in a state 
of barbarism, I passed unknown ages in unconscious or half 
unconscious ignorance, stupidity and vice. By degrees, the 
bright side of nature opened my eyes slenderly, and I dimly 
surveyed the universe around me, without clearly knowing 
what it was. Then came the ministry of storm, tempest, 
thunder and lightning, and those terrible forces called forth 
my energies even more effectually than the sunshine. I was 
assailed by the beasts of prey and had to fight for life. Here 
was a great educational discipline. These conflicts, however, 
unfolded the lower, the ruthless, the ferocious tendencies of my 
nature. Looking back from what I am, I may say that then 
first I became devilish. What, however, still more developed 
in me the diabolical, was my struggle for food, which I had to 
carry on against dearth, famine, sickness, pestilence, human 
competitors and deadly animals. Most of all do I owe my 
evil propensities to a kind of corporation called Shamans, 
who bent their knees to me first from fear, and then from 
awe, and lastly from self-interest. They proceeded in their 
timorous adulations for successive ages, until they and I grew 
first familiar, and then associates in sustaining superstitions 
which were as profitable to them as they were pleasing to me. 



56 satan's direct and indirect education. 

The Shamans fanned my pride, and I filled their purse, both of 
us meanwhile losing the little manhood we had, and gaining 
more and more of the mean, the sordid, the astute, the self- 
seeking. And when ordinary means failed to reward our 
common efforts, we took to force, cruelty and fraud. Ere very 
long they became consummate hypocrites, and I became purely 
diabolical. In this state of thorough depravity we acted one 
on the other for untold centuries, until life was no longer 
sustainable on evil, and we took a turn for the better. How 
far my educators improved I venture not to say, but certainly 
I have not wholly failed to keep step with the general march 
of humanity on toward higher forms of life. Such, at least, 
has been the effect of the better principles and impulses of 
my nature, that I now desire to sink my fiercer and darker 
qualities, and to rid the world of the pestiferous delusion 
that I am an individual and everlasting embodiment of sin 
and malignity. It is therefore with complacency that I see 
bodies of men who in former days withstood popular educa- 
tion, busily engaged in its promotion. Let them take encou- 
ragement from my example. When Satan turns schoolmaster, 
the day of general culture is beginning to dawn. In this 
honourable character I shall be recognized at least by you, my 
attentive and diligent pupil. 

The education through which I have gone has been indirect 
as well as direct. Of the latter I have given a brief descrip- 
tion. The former has operated on me only through others. 
The encouragement of the idea of a personal devil tends to 
produce and perpetuate one. The features ascribed to me by 
sacerdotal authorities become living and concrete realities in 
vulgar minds. This creative operation proceeds even at present 
on a very large scale, especially under Eomanist influences, 
and ever as my ghostly educators and their pupils stand low 
in the scale of civilization, does my character assume more 
repulsive traits and a more murky hue. " In the year 1861, 
at Morzine, at the south of the Lake of Geneva, there might 
be seen in full fury an epidemic of diabolical possession 



ROMANISM FOSTERS AND AGGRANDIZES SATAN. 



worthy of a Red-Indian settlement or a Negro kingdom of 
West Africa — an outburst which, the exorcisms of a supersti- 
tious priest had so aggravated, that there were a hundred and 
ten raving demoniacs in that single village. The following is 
from a letter written in 1862 by Mgr. Anouilh, a French mis- 
sionary bishop in China, " Would you believe it ? Ten 
villages have been converted. The devil is furious and deals 
around heavy blows. During my fortnight's preaching, there 
have been five or six demoniacs. Our catechumens with holy 
water drive away the devils and heal the sick. I have seen 
marvellous things. The devil renders me great services in my 
efforts to convert the pagans. As in the days of our Lord, 
though the father of lies, h.3 cannot help telling the truth. 
Cast your eye on that potr demoniac, wrung with agony and 
shouting, ' Why do you preach the true religion ? I cannot 
endure your taking from me my disciples.' 6 What is your 
name % ' asks the catechist. After several refusals he says, 
6 1 am Lucifer's envoy.' £ How many of you are there 1 ' 
6 Twenty -two.' Holy water and the sign of the cross deli- 
vered that wretched creature." * 

Whence this caricature of me and the frenzy of those poor 
ignorant maniacs — whence this dishonour to religion, but 
from the gross fanaticism of this episcopal preacher of what 
ought to be the simple, sublime and practical verities of the 
Sermon on the Mount 1 In truth, I am made what I am by 
ignorance, passion, dupery and superstition. Such was my 
education. Such, in part, is the influence to which I am, alas ! 
Still subject. 



* Primitive Culture, by Ed. B. Taylor, Vol. II. p. 129. 



58 



SATAN A PRODUCT OF EVERY LAND. 



CHAPTER II. 

MY HISTORICAL GENESIS. 

If the learned author of Paradise Lost may be believed, I 
possess the utmost facility of passing through space and time. 
This ideal power may be of use to me now, when I proceed to 
describe my historical genesis. Come with me then, gentle 
companion, and stand by my side there on the Hindu Kush, 
at the western extremity of the Himalayan mountains. Here, 
as from a probable cradle of the human race, we can cast our 
eyes to the East, the West, the South and the ]S T orth, and 
trace the main lines that the four great streams of civiliza- 
tion have pursued in the passage of human beings over the 
surface of Asia and Europe. I confine myself to this hemi- 
sphere, because the western half of the globe is still but im- 
perfectly explored in regard to the sources of its populations. 
The defect is a matter of small consequence, because enough 
is known of its aborigines to assure us that they belonged to 
the genus homo. Xow man is essentially everywhere the same. 
More or less of civilization does not alter the fundamental 
qualities of his being. Of these, no one is more completely 
universal than worship. Wherever he is, under whatever 
skies, on whatever soil, on sea as well as land, man is a wor- 
shiper. This, which is true locally, is alike true in regard to 
successive ages. The half savage inhabitant of Egyptian 
Thebes bent before his gods of stone. The philosopher who 
speculates on the banks of "the Thames bows his heart in 
homage to the Creator of the universe. Even those who 
deny God with their lips own him in the voiceless movements 
of their souls. 

Co-extensive with the recognition of God is the recognition 
of me. This position is so true, that as yet the exceptions 
present themselves solely in the most cultivated individuals 
of the most cultivated nations. History, then, in bearing its 



SATAN FOLLOWS THE LINE OF CIVILIZATION. 



59 



testimony to God, has a testimony to bear to Satan. The 
dualism which Logic and Experience furnish, History attests. 

But how within my contracted limits — how can I exhibit 
the fact so as to gain credence for it 1 An easy and a ready 
way presents itself. It is one of the great and most benefi- 
cent results of modern science to shew that, at least in regard 
to this hemisphere, all civilization has come from the East. 
A question may be raised as to the anteriority of India or 
Egypt j but all authorities agree that the great stream of cul- 
ture flows not from the West to the East, but from the East 
to the West. It is indeed true that its direction is now 
altered. At present, Europe repays to Asia the debt it spent 
ages in contracting. But then the payment is nothing else 
than interest on the capital it began to borrow in almost the 
earliest days of civilization. 

This great stream of culture had another aspect. It was 
identical with the stream of population. Greek, Teuton, 
English, Kelt, Bonian, French, Irish and Highland Scot — ■ 
all are descendants of the natives of the Indus and the Ganges. 
What is true of races is true of languages. It is also true of 
objects of worship. The divinities that are at this moment 
worshiped in Calcutta, find their analogues in the remotest 
antiquity in the same Eastern land and in every part of 
civilized Europe at present. Iso less is it true that over this 
extent of space and time I am found everywhere. 

It is equally certain that, while always and in all places 
the same, I vary as each successive age varies in regard to 
general culture. Fiercest in the lowest tribes, I by degrees 
become mild as mental elevation and moral refinement more 
or less prevail. If the frightful task assigned to me by Chris- 
tian divines seems to contradict the assertion, the contradic- 
tion is itself contradicted by the general tendency of the 
present day, in which the spread of an ethical Christianity — 
the true religion of Christ — is gradually effacing my image 
from the more cultivated human minds, as water continually 
dropping wears away the hardest rock. 



60 



SATAN UNIVERSAL. 



Together with the "falsity of a personal devil, the bulk of 
the huge mass of other superstitions which once flooded the 
Church, and still defile and deform the greater portion of it, 
went down out of Eastern lands more or less remote in time 
and place, to settle in the West until " the times of Eefor- 
niation.' 3 

No wonder, then, that, under some name or another, I am 
found from where we stand in every known spot on all sides 
around us. On other grounds than those I have taken up, 
the statement might be extended to the entire surface of the 
earth. 

If I exist wherever man exists, what am I but man's shadow ] 
Declare that I am a person, and add, in obedience to the 
orthodoxy of our subject, that at the same moment I tempt 
men in every spot on the habitable globe, and then what else 
do you but make me a co-partner with the Almighty in his 
dominion over the earth ? And if God has such a rival, how 
is he the Almighty ? His sway is shared by me, who lust v f or 
evil as much as he desires good. Yet did not those divine 
lips declare, that a " kingdom divided against itself cannot 
stand"? (Matt. xii. 25). What, then, do I but imperil the 
throne of the Creator of the universe *? To conclusions so 
false and painful does belief in my proper personality inevi- 
tably lead. 

On one of the minor streams which combine to make up 
the great river of culture of which I have spoken, I now, 
Theophilus, desire to fix your eye. The country which, 
stretching out immediately before us, extends from the Black 
Sea on the right hand, the Caspian on the left, and the 
Persian Gulf on the south-west, shews you the district where 
in ancient days I flourished more than anywhere else. In gene- 
ral terms it may be called Persia. There I received what may 
be called my university training. The head master of the 
school bore the name of Zoroaster or Zerdusht. As Greeks 
bore the classic culture from Constantinople to Paris and 
Oxford, so did Zoroaster transmit a modified Brahmanism to 



SATAN SPECIALLY A PRODUCT OF ZOBOASTBRISM. 



Gl 



tlie principal cities of Irania, In both cases I formed part of 
the learned burden. Indeed, the burden differed mainly in 
form, only that the classic culture in its original purity had 
in it, from the nature of the soil where it grew up, but a 
small infusion of demonology, whereas that element super- 
abounded in Zoroasterisni.* The age of Zoroaster, after being 
much debated, remains fluctuating between 6000 and 600 
years before the birth of Christ. The latter appears to be 
nearer the truth than the former. His doctrines first became 
known in Europe by a translation into French of the Zend 
Avesta.t When, in the sixth century before Christ, Babylon 
was conquered by Cyrus, the higher orders of the country 
held the doctrines of Zoroaster ( the Gold-star ). The cap- 
tive Jews were taken by its monotheistic principles and what 
to them were spiritual tendencies. Accordingly they appro- 
priated much of its substance. The appropriation was made 
fuller during the two centuries (-536 — 332 A.C.) in which the 
Persian empire bore sway in Palestine. The following is an 
outline of Zoroasterisni. J 

The Supreme Being, Zervane Akerene, or unbounded time, 
an abyss in which "all our thoughts are drowned," is the 
source of all that exists. Thence came the primitive light, 
that is the primitive fire and primitive water; and from their 
mixture by Honover, the creative "Word, sprang first Ahura 
Mazda, commonly known as Ormuzcl, the good God, the spirit 
of light, the root of all that is good in the world, the source of 
all perfections, the resplendent image of the infinite, all whose 
attributes he possesses. In modern phrase, Zervane Akerene 
is God unrevealed, and Ahura Mazda God revealed : and then 
Enzhrehe Meenieosh, or Ahriman, who, good in his origin, at 

* Kleuker Zendavesta ; Heeren Ideen ; Rhode Die Heilige Sage der 
alten Perser. 

+ Zendavesta Ouvrage de Zoroastre, contenant les Idees Theologiques 
Physiques, et Morales de ce Legislateur, &c. Traduit par M. Anquetil da 
Perron. Paris, 1771. 

% Theologie Biblique, par Eugene Haag, p. 387. Paris, 1870. 



02 



SATAN AND AHRIMAN THE SAME. 



the end of 3000 years became bad through his jealousy of 
Ormuzd, so that his luminous essence grew obscure and 
changed into darkness. Thus he became the Malignant Spirit, 
" the prince of darkness," the source of all evil — of impure 
thoughts, of violent passions, of sin, and of death — in a word, 
myself, as popularly understood. His symbol is the serpent, as 
that of Ormuzd is sacred fire and the sun. Then opened the 
second period, that too of 3000 years, during which Ormuzd 
reigned alone, pursuing his work of creation unopposed, and 
reproducing in a visible form the world of ideas (Fervers), 
the prototypes of all creatures, the principles of life and move- 
ment in heaven and earth, the pure and immediate imprints 
of the creative thought, of the Word Honover. Ormuzd first 
created the world of spirits, the highest position in which is 
held by Emesha Sepeanta, or the Amshaspands, hypostases 
of the divine attributes, in number six, presided over by 
Ormuzd himself, thus making seven, one of the sacred num- 
bers of the Bible, reproduced in our seven days and the 
Hebrew seven (sa&bath) day worship. Their substance is the 
light. They are accounted the genii or guardian angels of the 
seven planets as known to the ancients. After the Amshas- 
pands, Ormuzd created the Izeds, in number twenty-eight 
(four sevens or a lunation : observe, my dear pupil, the traces 
of the primaeval star- worship). These Izeds (a word denoting 
a divinity) are secondary gods, who (like the Dii minor es of 
Latium) preside over the elements — mountains, rivers, plants, 
&c, and guard inanimate nature from the attacks of the 
Dews, or fallen angels, like the Titans of Greek mythology. 
Among these, Mithra (the sun-god) holds the first position. 
As opponents to these good genii, Ahriman created the Dews 
(Deus, Latin for God, whence deity, divine, and perhaps the 
English deiM), whose business it is to ruin Ormuzd' s creation 
and to extend the kingdom of darkness. Special fury was 
manifested by the jealous Ahriman when Ormuzd created the 
world of bodies. Not satisfied with throwing Ormuzd's work 
into confusion (as learned theologians say I did in regard to 



ZOROASTERISM THE SOURCE OF ORTHODOXY. 63 

the creation of God), Ahriman slew Abudad, the typal bull, 
the emblem of life, anclKajomorts, the androgynous or herma- 
phrodite (man-woman) type of the human race. From their 
seed, however, Ormuzd brought forth other creatures, weaker, 
it is true, and consequently less able to resist Ahriman and 
his Dews ; who on their part opposed to Ormuzd' s pure 
creation impure animals and baleful plants. Although pure 
and innocent, Meshia and Mesheane (Adam and Eve), the 
two protoplasts, offspring of Kajomorts, fell victims to the 
seductions of Ahriman — the woman first, as in Genesis — and 
by their fall became sinful and mortal, implicating their pos- 
terity in their own ruin. From that moment, all the indivi- 
duals of the race of man are Darrands or sinners. Here, 
however, Honover, the Word of Ormuzd, interposes. One in 
mind with Ormuzd, he offers succour to the fallen race. If 
they courageously withstand Ahriman, they are saved ; they 
will safely pass over the bridge Tshonivad, which unites 
heaven and earth, and enter into Paradise • while the wicked, 
the impious, hurled down into Duzakh, or Hell, will there be 
subjected to corrective discipline until their complete purifica- 
tion is effected. During 3000 years the world remains in its 
actual condition. Another period of the same duration fol- 
lows, in which Ahriman overcomes Ormuzd and brings in the 
reign of evil. His tyrannical dominion cannot last. It will 
come to an end at the time appointed by Zervane Akerene ; 
that is, at the end of the fourth period of 3000 years, or in all 
12,000 years. From that moment Ormuzd reigns and rules 
without an assessor. Then he raises first Kajomorts, and 
afterwards the protoplasts, and finally all men, the bad as well 
as the good. The earth gives back their limbs, their bones, 
their blood, and with them their fire and their life. But before 
the definitive triumph of the Good Principle, there will 
appear three prophets, under the last of whom the earth, 
ravaged by all sorts of plagues, will recover its primeval 
beauty. After the resurrection, the final judgment takes 
place. The presiding judge is Sosioch, the last of the three 



64 



satan's blood bluer than any. 



prophets. The righteous are received into Gorotman (Heaven), 
where Ormiizd sits on his throne. The same favour is be- 
stowed on Ahrirnan and the wicked, after they have been 
purified by fire during three days and three nights. Then 
the earth will be the abode of uncjualified bliss. All nature 
will be light. Ormuzd's laws will be universally obeyed, and 
human beings will with Sosioch live a pure and holy life, free 
from care and pain, wholly given up to the everlasting worship 
of Zervane Akerene, the Supreme Being, whence all existence 
came. 

What other things may exist in this sketch I wait not to 
declare, but beyond a doubt I am there, and there I am in 
the very condition in which I have been placed by the Chris- 
tian Church from its origin to the present day ; but to this 
point I shall shortly recur. Only, before I pass on, I beg you 
to note the ancientness of my pedigree, "Xorman blood" 
is but as yesterday compared with mine. The outline I have 
given is necessarily concise, but did I not feel symptoms of 
old age creeping over me, I might be tempted to attempt a 
universal history in pictures, the products not of fancy or 
partizanship, but of my own human experience, with eye, ear, 
touch, taste, and inward no less than outward sense. But 
then I should have to call science to my aid, and describe the 
choirs innumerable of all grades of intelligence that people 
the starry firmament. In regard to them I make in addition 
but one remark, namely, that in neither the lower nor in the 
higher spheres is anything found so horrible as is the Satan 
of popular churches. The conditions of such a monstrosity 
are confined to the dark and turbid period of the last six 
thousand years of the earth's all but inconceivable duration. 



ORIGIN OF JUDAISM AND POPULAR CHRISTIANITY. 



BOOK III. 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION : MY CONNECTION WITH THE 

BIBLE. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE OLD TESTAMENT : THE SHEMITIC OR HEBREW ELEMENT. 
SECTION I, 

THE STRICT MONOTHEISM OF THE RELIGION OF MOSES. 

Two great rivers, receiving tributaries from very large and 
very diverse districts of the earth, the Shemitic and the Aryan, 
discharge their mingled waters on the land of Canaan, so as to 
produce its oldest and its latest religion in their popular forms, 
the religion of Israel and the religion of the Christian Church. 

o o 

I repeat the phrase, "in their popular forms," because I wish 
from the first to draw attention to the important distinction 
that exists and must be recognized between, at the one ex- 
tremity, the religion of Moses and the religion of the children 
of Israel, and, at the other, the religion of Jesus and the re- 
ligion of the Christian Church. And this early notification 
is the more necessary, because it will assist me to shew you 
that the religion of Moses and the religion of Jesus are exempt 
from the recognition of a personal devil. Such an absence 
need not surprise you if you have attentively thought over 
what precedes. These two religions stand at the summit 
of all religions in being purely spiritual, profoundly prac- 
tical, and essentially beneficent. As such, they imply in their 
authors the highest, the widest and the most living culture.. 

F 



* 



66 ORIGIN OF MOSAIC MONOTHEISM. 

Now it is a lesson taught by many parts of what goes before, 
that while the conception of a devil ensues from the dark side 
of the human mind, as acted on by the dark side of nature, so 
that conception sinks and disappears in the degree in which 
civilization becomes more real, more lofty and more benignant ; 
suggesting and encouraging the belief that in the most ad- 
vanced civilization I shall have ceased to exist. That civiliza- 
tion is represented by Moses in its initial stadium, and in its 
final issue by Jesus. When humanity has become all that it 
is capable of being and all that God means it to be, it will 
have utterly parted company with myself, and to it, as well as 
in fact, " God will be all in all" (1 Cor. xv. 26). That final 
issue will be hailed by none more gladly than by me, if only 
because, when the shadows have passed away, I, as represent- 
ing the race of man, shall have dropped all that is bad and dark, 
while holding fast to and consummating all that is good in 
human nature and in God's fatherly purposes respecting it. 

The religion of Moses was not born in a day. Ages of com- 
parative culture had passed before any one could, under Divine 
Providence, appear, able to own in his soul and proclaim with 
his lips Jehovah, that is the Living One, and, as such, the 
Life-giver. The Israelites, like their kinsmen of Canaan, wor- 
shiped in their earliest times a number of divinities, such as 
Baal, Moloch, &c. Abraham had indeed uttered the great 
thought, which was also to him a great discovery, or, if you 
will, a great revelation, that God was one, and that the one 
God had produced, and still sustained and governed, the uni- 
verse. But this good seed fell into bad ground, and either 
perished or came up beset with tares. Certainly, in the in- 
terval between Abraham and Moses, the sons of Jacob wor- 
shiped, like other Shemitic tribes, their own peculiar divinity, 
the God of their race, their patron God, the God not so much 
of the universe as of their fathers. That God was to them 
" God of gods " and " Lord of lords," that is, the most powerful 
of surrounding divinities acknowledged by kindred tribes. 
(Exod. xviii. 11, xv. 11 ; Numb. xiv. 15 ; Judg. xi. 24.) At 



THE NATION INFECTED WITH IDOLATRY. 



67 



first, it may be inferred, from corruptions which, cropping out 
later, existed from very early ages — at first, I say, he was the 
" God of the hills," as contradistinguished from the " gods of 
the plains " (1 Kings xx. 23) ; but in time he became the 
God of heaven, w T ho made himself known in thunder and 
lightning, who appeared in a pillar of fire, yea, who was him- 
self the " devouring fire." (Exod. iii. 2, xix. 16 — 18, xxiv. 17; 
Numb. xvi. 3-5 ; Lev. x. 2.) He is a God of power ; he is the 
Power ( AJ J, the Almighty ( Al Shaddai). Indeed, there are 
traces in the Teraphim, Cherubim and Seraphim, that the 
Hebrew forefathers worshiped several divinities, whom they 
afterwards allowed to sink into mere forms and symbols. 
They are even reproached with worshiping false gods, " the 
idols of Egypt," in the Wilderness. (Ezek. xx. 8, xiii. 24 ; 
Amos v. 26.) Throughout the long series of events which 
passed from the days of Joshua to the return from the cap- 
tivity, the nation, both when united and when separate, was 
deeply and all but incurably infected with idolatry. The fact 
admits of no explanation, except on the assumption that the 
false worships wdiich had been fostered, if not revived or even 
created, in Egypt, remained embedded in the heart of the 
people, notwithstanding the monotheistic teachings of Moses, 
About the tenth century before Christ, a strong protest began 
to be uttered against all religious falsities, and specially against 
false gods, as the too prolific source of the rest. That testi- 
mony was borne by the prophets — the w 7 isest, most religious, 
most self- forgetful, and most heroic race of religious teachers 
that ever existed. Their appearance, as well as the tone of 
their instructions, pre-supposes great religious corruption in 
the heart and in the worship of the Hebrews. And then 
probably it was, during the classic period of Hebrew literature, 
that the first account of creation (Gen. i. — ii. 3) was, if not 
originally produced, yet wrought into the perfect form in which, 
it now exists. In the use which is here (verse 1) made of the 
term God ( Elohim, plural of Al, previously mentioned), there 
is a disclosure of high importance in the history of the religion 

f 2 



68 A STERLING MONOTHEISM ESTABLISHED IN ISRAEL 



of Israel. A great conflict had been proceeding for many 
centuries "between the old polytheistic element of the majority 
and the new monotheistic element of the minority. The pre- 
ponderance was at the first, and for a very long time, so great 
as almost to crush the grand idea entertained and asserted by 
the elect few. But, with the progress of time and culture, a 
state of mind arose which, either as an original thought or a 
revival of the thought of Abraham and Moses, harmonized the 
old religions with the new necessity, implicitly declaring 
that God, the God of the Hebrews, was a concentration of all 
divine energies. That tacit proclamation, at whatever time 
made, was the real birth of the monotheism of Israel, as pro- 
fessed and maintained by the prophets, and as long after 
taught by the greatest of the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth. 
The necessity to which I have referred was a claim on con- 
science to own the one God and none but he. Such a claim, 
if rudely advanced, if put forward in bold contrast with the 
practical polytheism of the day, would alienate and repel those 
whom most it was desired to conciliate and gain. Without 
any set pretence, and in an unobtrusive yet effectual manner, 
the assertion of God's unity was effected by simply using the 
old plural form Elohim (gods), with a verb in the singular 
number (e.g. creates, and not create). Thus, by what may be 
called a failure in grammar, the great verity was set forth so 
as to be accepted, doubtless partially at first, but afterwards by 
all the nation. That failure in grammar will be better under- 
stood by the unlearned reader if I give a literal translation of 
the original, changing the tense from the past to the present for 
the sake of clearness. Thus, literally, the first words of Genesis 
declare, " In the beginning Gods creates the heaven," &e. 
The device is simple. By using with the singular verb the 
old and accepted term Elohim (in the plural, and equal to 
Gods, or rather powers J, and thus conciliating the polytheists, 
the writer declares that the powers in concentration created 
the universe, and so satisfies the monotheists. This was a 
turning-point in the religious history and experience of Israel. 



IS COMPLETED IN THE WORSHIP OF JEHOVAH, 



69 



From that, day polytheism rapidly declined and monotheism 
rapidly advanced. 

Yet this monotheism was not absolute. A union of powers 
denotes a change, and where change is, God, in the true sense 
of the term, is not. The idea was supplemented and com- 
pleted by the revelation made to Moses, and doubtless taught 
by him, however it might afterwards drop out of the public 
mind as too abstract for its espousal. The supplement was, 
that the God who created the world was the Being, the Self- 
existent One, the Life, the Essential Life, the Eternal Life. 
The Hebrew term is Jehovah (or rather Jahve). Henceforth 
the God of Israel is the living God, the only living and true 
God, and hence the One Life-giver. 

To ahirm such a God is to deny all other gods. That one 
Supreme, universal Existence excludes all beings of an inferior 
order. Hence polytheism and idolatry are simply lies and 
vanities. They have no reality. Like the idea of Satan, they 
are mere figments of the human brain. But if Jehovah is 
God, Jehovah alone, then no other being whatever can be 
God, God in any sense — can possess or exercise any divine 
quality or function. Jehovah stands absolutely in and by him- 
self; without equal, without a second, without a rival. His 
throne is unshared, his government is as boundless as his 
power. In such a system there is no place for a devil. The 
great verity was deeply felt and practically acknowledged by 
the prophets. With what emphasis does the second Isaiah 
express the solemn truth : 

"I am Jehovah, and there is none else ; there is no Gfod beside me. 
I girded thee, though thou didst not know me ; 

That they may knov/ from East to West that there is none beside me ; 
I am Jehovah, and there is none else." 

This general exclusion of all other divinities is made more 
emphatic by particulars : 

" I form the light and create darkness, 
I make peace and create evil." 

These words were uttered by the prophet with immediate 



70 



EXCLUDING ALL DUALISTIC FALSITIES. 



reference to the dualism of the Persians. They as good as 
declare that Ahriman is a fiction. " No ; he does not create 
darkness— not he, but I." And with a daringness on behalf 
of truth which in its assertion runs the greatest risk of being 
misunderstood, the prophet adds : 

" I create evil ; 
I JehoTali do all these things." (Is. xiv. 5 — 7.) 

Some two centuries before, the prophet Amos (iii. 6) had 
proclaimed the same exclusive absolutism : " Shall there be 
evil in a city, and Jehovah hath not done it ] " 

To prevent mistake, I add that the evil ascribed to God is 
not real evil, but evil as seen of man ; what man calls evil . 
Such evil is often God's highest good. Correction is evil in 
the sight of the corrected evil-doer, but in the sight of God 
and good men it is not only wisdom, but love. 

You thus see that the religion of Moses and the prophets 
was a strict and exclusive monotheism. God is represented 
as being even jealous of the divine glory which belonged to 
him, as the one sole God of heaven and earth, the author of 
real good and the author of what men called evil (Exod. xx. 5 ; 
Deut. iv. 14, seq.). This jealousy, which extended generally 
to the false gods of polytheism, must have included the dark 
side of the dualism which you have seen everywhere. Con- 
sequently it excluded me. This proscription took place, not 
by implication alone, but expressly and emphatically. The 
worship of devils was forbidden even under the penalty of 
death. While all animal offerings were to be made exclu- 
sively to Jehovah, to sacrifice to devils was treason ; and 
this inhibition comes out the more strikingly, because it is 
uttered in relation to such practices as already existed in 
Israel: "And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto 
devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be 
a statute for ever unto them, throughout their generations ; 
and every man that offereth a burnt-offering or sacrifice, and 
bringeth it not unto the tabernacle, that man shall be cut off 
from among his people." (Lev. xvii. 2, seq. Comp. Deut. 



SATANISM PROSCRIBED IN HEBREWISM. 



71 



xxxii. 17; 2 Chron. xi. 15; Ps. cvi. 37.) If, then, the 
Hebrews had a devil in any shape or form, he was contra- 
hand, and neither the Bible nor the Eiblical religion is 
answerable. Speaking in my own proper name, I declare 
that I am not a part of the religion of Moses. I did not, 
indeed, fail to engraft myself on the Mosaic institutions, but 
I encountered a resistance that I could not overcome. It is 
also true that so long and so far as the Israelites worshiped 
the divinities of the pagan nations, they worshiped me ; but 
in so doing they acted against the laws of their land, and 
incurred heavy displeasure and sore punishment from Jeho- 
vah. I may indeed go so far as to deelare that the one con- 
test which God and his messengers had with Israel down to 
the sixth century before Christ, was carried on, as against 
polytheism and idolatry, so against me. The warfare was of 
two kinds. The first was positive in its nature and educa- 
tory in its discipline. As seen in the tw r o tables of command- 
ments, Moses sought to elevate his people religiously and 
politically by making them practically moral. A pure heart 
sees too clearly and welcomes too gladly God, his Maker and 
Father, to give Satan entertainment for ever so brief a space. 
The second means employed of God to keep Israel free from 
the thraldom of devils w T as punitive, and the punishment em- 
ployed w T as, as you have just seen, of the last severity. The 
contest thus conducted was effectual. I w T as banished, and 
God reigned alone over the Hebrew nation. 

SECTION II. 

DEVILISM CONDEMNED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

The Hebrew names given to the devils condemned and out- 
lawed in the Old Testament, identify them with the imaginary 
beings of the pagan world. These names are two, Shed and 
Shoirim. The former, connected with the German Sehaden, 
with which it agrees in meaning, signifies to injure, to de- 
stroy, and so designates the devil as Apollyon, the destroyer. 



72 



DEVIL A FIGURE OF SPEECH* 



What have we here but the dark and destructive member 
of the universal dualism 1 The term is employed in Deut. 
xxxii. 17, "they sacrificed unto devils;" and Psalm cvi. 37, 
"they sacrificed their sons unto devils." In the former, the 
worshipers of the devils are described as " provoking God to 
jealousy, with abominations provoked they him to anger." 
And yet these very "vanities" (verse 21) are now upheld as 
realities ; nay, as personal beings, by those who are the pro- 
fessional advocates of the Bible and its religion. Surely, 
what God has pronounced "vanities" and "lies," "ministers 
of the gospel" ought in no way to espouse. Equally may I 
affirm that in thus tracing the natural history of the devil, 
I am working, if against pries tism, yet on the side of God. 

In truth, there is not in all history any conflict against 
error more vigorous and unsparing than that which the Bible 
shews to have been waged by the prophets and others against 
the reality of the heathen divinities, the devil expressly in- 
cluded. All the most opprobrious words of the Hebrew tongue 
are hurled against these " nothings," these "abominations." 

The second term rendered devil in the Bible is Shoirim, 
from a root which recalls our word shaggy, and which, de- 
noting what is hairy, what abounds in rough hair, signified a 
goat as emphatically the hairy being. The satyr is little else 
than an uglier goat. Indeed, the word satyr is used in our 
English Version as an equivalent for this Hebrew term. I 
will transcribe two or three of the passages (in all, forty) in 
which the word is used in the Old Testament : 

"Esau my brother is a hairy man" (Gen. xxvii. 11). 

" The priest shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and 
kill it" (Lev. iv. 24). 

"Offer their sacrifice unto devils" (Lev. xvii. 7). 

"Satyrs shall dance there" (Is. xiii. 31, xxxiv. 14). 

" The rough goat is the king of Greece" (Dan. viii. 21). 

Here we see the same term, say shaggy, denoting, 1, a man ; 
2, a king; 3, a satyr; 4, a devil ; 5, a goat. As it is impos- 
sible that any one object can be a man, a king, a satyr, a 



ORIGIN OF THE SATYR FORM OF THE DEVIL. 73 

devil, and a goat, which are we to take as the true meaning 
of the Hebrew term ? Tf you take " a goat," then as a goat 
is not a man, nor a king, nor a satyr, nor a devil, these several 
words cannot signify realities — -cannot denote the beings, as 
beings, which the word or sound makes mention of. So far, 
then, as these passages go, they ignore the existence of a 
personal devil. You reply, that there is one quality shared in 
common by the objects thus named, namely, hairy or shaggy, 
and that this is the reason why the word is applied to them all. 
True ; but then this quality of shagginess is not devilry. A goat 
is shaggy ; but he is not a tempter, nor a cheat, nor a liar. 
And even the application of this quality to all the objects is 
not possible, except you take it as a metaphor. To say that 
" the rough goat is the king of Greece," is to say what is not 
true, unless by is you mean represents or symbolizes. And in 
saying that, you shew that we are in the region, not of objec- 
tive and external realities, but of rhetorical figures. The 
farther we go into this matter, the more distant are we from 
the substantial reality and the concrete personage ecclesias- 
tically called " the devil." 

This devil, satyr, or goat, was, however, it seems, put to 
death and offered as a sin-offering to Jehovah (Lev. xvi. 8, seq.). 
A more thorough proof could not be given of the hostility of 
the religion of Jehovah to the worship of devils. The very 
object of their adoration, and consequently of their trust and 
hope, is taken and slain before their eyes ; nay, is presented 
in acknowledgment of sin and in hope of pardon to Jehovah, 
the only living and true God. This was indeed a victory 
gained by true religion over religious falsity, by God over his 
great antagonist. The victory was the more complete and 
triumphant, because the devil- worshiper brought the object 
of his worship with his own hands, and presented that object 
as a sin-offering to J ehovah, grieved and offended that shaggy 
creatures should receive the homage which was due to him 
alone. 



74 



SATAN NOT AMONG GOD'S CREATURES, 



SECTION III. 

THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION IGNORES SATAN, 

In our studies we have repeatedly seen how symbolism is 
interwoven with religion. Not least frequent among the 
symbols we have met with has been the serpent. On this 
point I must ask your special attention. Before I enter on 
the subject, I premise some remarks on what I have termed 
the first account of creation, which begins with the first 
verse of the first chapter of the Bible, and terminates with the 
third verse of the second chapter. 

This simple and sublime narrative is a purely Hebraic pro- 
duction. The old opinion which made it a strictly historical 
account of the formation of the heavens and the earth, 
directly dictated by the Holy Spirit to Moses, the author of 
the Pentateuch, breaks down under insuperable difficulties, 
and is held no longer by any but such as have not followed 
the advancing steps of History and Theology during the last 
hundred years. Not more tenable is that other theory which 
makes the account a scientific narrative of the process of crea- 
tion either completely or partially accurate. These assump- 
tions are too purely mere assumptions to detain me by any 
particular confutations. Enough to state what the account 
really is, first as to substance and then as to form. In sub- 
stance the narrative embodies the most advanced opinion of 
an early, but an intensely religious age. Though religious, 
the age, the golden age of Hebrew literature, opening with the 
regal government when Israel began to emerge out of a period 
of comparative confusion and illiterateness ; — though religious, 
the age was totally unscientific. As little did it possess the 
rigid spirit of history. Yet its religiousness made it earnest 
in the pursuit of truth, and honest in recording the conclu- 
sions which ensued. In consequence, this grand narrative 
reports the best thought of the age on the matters spoken of, 
and far surpasses in approaches to reality all other ancient cos- 



THE PURE HEBREW THOUGHT EXCLUDES SATAN. 



75 



niogonies. It is, however, what w r ould now be called a popular 
account. It is such an account as the eye would disclose to a 
religious sage who knew no other planet but the earth, and of 
the earth knew only a very small circle. Nevertheless, destitute 
though the narrative is of a philosophical basis, devoid though 
it is of a properly historical sense, and exempt as it is from 
either the scientific spirit or scientific accuracy and compre- 
hensiveness, yet so is it imbued with and predominated by the 
spirit of true religion, that it tells its solemn, lofty and exhi- 
lirating tale with so much naturalness and likelihood, as to 
satisfy the intellect while kindling and inspiring the soul, filling 
the heart with the purest sympathies and the most elevated 
aspirations. And although it must be said that, in view of the 
progress which the arts and sciences have since made, espe- 
cially of late, it lacks in its substance the universality which 
w T ould secure it general acceptance, nevertheless its religious 
elevation is such, that, making God the source of all things, 
the one God, the Creator, Lord and Benefactor of whatever 
is, it lays the foundation for that universal religion, and that 
universal human brotherhood, out of which modern civiliza- 
tion has issued, with an ever-increasing volume of richest 
waters, and an ever -brightening and widening outflow of 
" purest ray serene." 

I desire to emphasize the fact that this narrative knows 
nothing of the devil. Such being the case, then, I am justi- 
fied in declaring that the Shemitic thought in its most limpid 
and elevated expression is free from this, the figment of mental 
obscurity and moral lowness and distempered speculation. 
Yes ; the whole creation was brought into being " in the be- 
ginning." Before the beginning, nothing was but the Creator ; 
not angels to either "fall" or " keep their first estate" (Jude 6). 
As there were none before, so there were none after, if this 
account deserves acceptance. The whole subject of angel and 
devil is as absent from the narrative, as if its author had never 
heard of either. 

I may be excused if I ask special attention to this simple 



76 THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF CREATION SIMPLE AND SUBLIME. 



truth from those who hold the account to be stamped with 
the infallibility which belongs to the Divine Mind. The 
higher and the holier the authority of the document, the more 
ought they to feel it certain that the devil is not among the 
creatures of God, still less that there is, however named, any 
supernatural competitor for his throne or preternatural anta- 
gonist to his government. Surely those who profess to make 
what they call "the Word of God" their creed, will not be 
slow to admit that this portion of it implicitly contradicts the 
existence of the devil. And if so, surely, too, they cannot 
put Scripture in opposition to itself by asserting that the 
existence of a personal devil is asserted in any other part of 
what they call "the Inspired Volume." 

Turning from this well-meaning though ill-instructed class 
of persons, I ask such as have prosecuted religious and his- 
torical studies under the best lights of modern knowledge, 
whether the absence of the devil in this purely monotheistic 
and genuinely Hebrew document ought not to have an over- 
ruling influence in regard to other parts of the Old Testa- 
ment, not indeed to close our eyes to imposing evidence, but 
certainly to require solid proofs of an opposite tendency, and 
to incline the balance of mere probability ] And these things 
I say to illustrate the high and safe position which I have 
gained and now securely hold, and not to prepare the way for 
a severe contest, and possibly a dubious issue, from conflicting 
considerations ; for nothing of the sort is before me. 

I have called this wonderful composition an account and a 
narrative. It is in truth a poem. Such is its form. Hence 
its intense religiousness, and hence its ever-living impressive- 
ness. One of the earliest of poems, it is also one of the most 
highly prized. Standing in front of what I may by anticipa- 
tion call The Bible of Humanity, it stands also at the head of 
all religious poetry ; and being at once purely and simply 
human as well as intensely divine, it makes its way into the 
heart of childhood, where it nestles among home associations 
and endearments, and lingers on to the last in the deepest 



THE ANTHEM OF CREATION. 



77 



pieties of the grandmother, while many a philosopher's dying 
bed has been lighted np and soothed by his assurance, hence 
derived, that, bearing the image of the Creator and breathing 
his breath, 'he could not perish when his last pulse had beaten 
on earth. 

That wo have to do here with poetry rather than prose, 
you may satisfy yourself if you will go over the whole care- 
fully and note how marked is the rhythm which flows through 
it. Now rhythm is the formal sign of the effusions of the 
Hebrew Muse, who in her lofty flight disdained the petty 
ornaments of rhyme. But that which demonstrates the poetic 
character of the composition is its sublimity in combination 
with its simplicity. Only a poet's soul could have poured 
forth those inspired stanzas, whose solemn grandeur and soar- 
ing wing recall the lofty and enrapturing impressions pro- 
duced by the sacred Muse of Isaiah. 

With these explanations, I call this narrative 
The Anthem of Creation, 
and fancy as I write the title that I hear the solemn and 
exulting movements and harmonies of Handel's "Creation" 
peal and thrill through my soul. 

Much to the loss of the unlearned reader, the poetry of the 
Bible is printed in the common English translation in the 
same way as the prose. It is a natural conclusion that from 
first to last the Bible is a book of prose. Most erroneous ! 
Large portions of the Bible are poetic both in form and sub- 
stance. In order to assist you in appreciating the poetry of 
this anthem, I subjoin the first five verses written in lines. 

il In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 
And the earth was without form and void. 
And darkness was upon the face of the deep. 
And God said, Let light be, and light was. 
And God saw that the light was good. 
And God divided the light from the darkness. 
And God called the light day; 
And the darkness he called night. 
And the evening and the morning was the first day." 



78 



BIRTHPLACE OF THE BOOK OF JOB. 



SECTION IV. 
SATAN IN THE BOOK OF JOB. 

The Shemitic view of God in its most rigorous form has 
now been set before you in its relations with the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures. A qualified conception of it is presented in 
the book of Job. The degeneracy is both marked and mea- 
sured by the appearance in the composition of a being called 
Satan. This is the central point toward which my present 
remarks must tend. What is Satan in the Scripture ? An 
individual reality ? or an offshoot of Oriental imagination ] 

The age when the book inscribed with the name of Job was 
produced is a matter of dispute, after all the discussions the 
subject has undergone. With some critics, it is the most 
ancient book of the Old Testament ; with others, it has its 
place among the most recent. Others, again, assign it a 
medium date. In their judgment, it was produced in the 
classic period of the Hebrew literature, perhaps under the 
reign of Solomon. This time is strongly recommended by the 
fact that then Hebrew culture and the fame of that culture 
extended from Jerusalem, its centre, far and wide over con- 
terminous lands. Iclumaea was a minor centre of the same 
literary skill and fame. This probably is the birthplace of 
the book of Job. Commonly accounted a Hebrew work, it is 
totally free from a specially Hebrew colouring, making no 
mention, not even by implication, of the Mosaic law or the 
institutions which gathered around it. Among those institu- 
tions was a complicated system of sacrificial offerings, in part 
derived from ages long anterior to Moses, in part parasitic 
accretions, which, coming from sacerdotal and other quarters, 
fastened themselves on the body of the Mosaic religion. This 
system of sacrifices was in operation during the long period 
at some point of which the book of Job came into existence. 
Had it been produced in the land of Canaan, had it been pro- 



SUBJECT OF THE BOOK OF JOB. 79 

duced under the religious influences to which its natives were 
devoted, it must have borne a larger or smaller, a superficial, 
if not a deep, imprint of the sacrificial religion of Israel. 
And this the rather, because the question on which the narra- 
tive turns is one of the most vital importance ; namely, the 
great problem of evil, specially in relation to its retributions. 
Here is Job, a sincerely religious man, overwhelmed with 
calamity and suffering. How can the fact be accounted for % 
If God is good and righteous, how can such an one as Job 
have to endure suffering ? But suffering he has to endure ; 
perhaps, then, the lack of righteousness is on his side, and not 
on the side of God ? The question is debated by the inter- 
locutors. They find no solution. The knot that cannot be 
untied is at last cut. God's sovereign will explains all. What 
does man know of God and his ways % Let man be humbled 
in the dust. Let him bow down and acknowledge God's 
right to do as he pleases, and then God will recompense the 
pious and prostrate worshiper. Such is Job's position and 
such his reward. And all this in Palestine, which swarms 
with daily sacrifices specially designed to meet and answer 
the great questions of sin, suffering and forgiveness. It must 
be acknowledged that if the land of Israel is the stage whereon 
this drama unrolls itself, the book is thoroughly untrue to its 
scenery. 

So unlikely a circumstance, combined with other considera- 
tions, has led recent critics of the highest repute to fix the 
place of the alleged events in the land of Edom, lying on the 
south-east of Palestine, whose capital, Petra&a, was distin- 
guished for skill in the highest civilization of the day, and 
whose sages were specially renowned for religious sentiment 
and practical morality; albeit they seem to have had a certain 
tincture of religious speculation in their nature, so as to be 
inclined to debate questions of doubtful issue, shunned as un- 
becoming by the less reflective piety of genuiue Hebrewism. 
The locality thus preferred has the additional recommendation 
of being in unison with the scenery of heaven and earth pre- 



80 SATAN AN ACTOR IN A SACRED DRAMA. 

sented in this composition. In favour of this view I should, 
did space allow, cite the opinion of one of the most accom- 
plished Oriental scholars, Ernest Benan.* Eenan moreover 
states that the book of Job is founded on a legend. Certainly 
it is a poem. With the exception of a brief prologue and a 
brief epilogue, the whole book is poetic both in form and 
spirit. It is a didactic poem, after the manner of Pope's " Essay 
on Man." So manifest is the fact as to create astonishment that 
any one versed in study should ever have supposed it a history. 

With a true knowledge of the character of the composition, 
the historical reality of its Satan falls to the ground. Satan is 
simply one of the actors in the sacred drama. The restoration 
to Satan of his real character brings the book back into the 
category of Shemitic literature and Shemitic thought to which, 
in the main, it unquestionably belongs ; yet belongs with a 
difference. That difference lies in this, that although the 
book of Job knows nothing of the Turanian and Aryan 
dualism, and regards God's will as equally without rival and 
without control, it yet mentions another being which many 
have identified with the Aryan devil. 

Totally, however, without reason. Eead the words which 
appertain to Satan as found in the Bible. 

The narrative is doubtless equally simple and graphic. So 
much likelihood to truth does it contain, that so long as it 
remains in its own phraseology it commands assent and con- 
currence. ^Nevertheless, the moment you try to re-create the 
picture in your own mind, you become vividly sensible of the 

* Le Livre de Job, traduit de l'Hebreu par Ernest Renan, Membre de 
rinstitut. 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1859. In speaking thus favourably of Renan, 
I confine myself to his scholarship. The man and his opinions are somewhat 
fully and critically reviewed by me in " A Manual of Christian Evidence, 
containing, as an Antidote to current Materialistic Tendencies, particularly 
as found in the Writings of Ernest Renan, an .Outline of the Manifestation 
of God in the Bible, in Providence, in History, in the Universe, and in the 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. By John R. Beard, D.D. 8vo. bound. 
Price 10s. 6d. London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co. ( The Editor.) 



GOD TEMPETH NOT ANY ONE. 



81 



incongruity of the whole and its several parts with the 
deepest moral intuitions of your soul. So certainly is this 
the experience of every ecclesiastically untutored mind, that 
it is among the strangest of mental and moral phenomena 
that the scene should ever have imposed itself as a reality on 
any ordinarily cultivated person. 

Reproduce, then, in your own thought the idea here given 
you of God. Instead of God, say " My own father," and then 
ascribe to your father what is here attributed to God. You 
shrink from repeating the impieties that must ensue aloud. 
Yet I entreat you to go over the whole scene, simply substi- 
tuting, with the necessary verbal changes, the words "My 
father" for God. Then say, can that be true of God which 
would be a shameless calumny if uttered of your father ] 
What ! is then the Scripture false which runs in these words : 
" Let no man when he is tempted say, I am tempted of God ; 
for God tempteth not any one" (James i. 13). Yet God not 
only tempts Job, but, according to the orthodox view, he 
employs the basest, yet the most powerful, of evil spirits to be 
his instrument in the unworthy task. Nay, when, for the first 
time Job comes out of temptation uninjured, he lays another 
snare, and one of such a nature that the victim is caught and 
brought to moral and spiritual despair. Moreover, while 
God, as the prime agent thus commits acts which, if done by 
any father in any village in England, would call forth a cry of 
indignant reprobation against so unnatural a parent, God is 
made to declare to Satan in express terms, " Thou movedst 
me against him." What! God moved by Satan? The infi- 
nitely wise and good One moved by the incarnation of evil 
to a wicked act ! — that is, to assail a second time, and with 
more effectual weapons, a human being strong enough to 
resist for the first time both God and the devil ? And do 
you call this history ] Eeality 1 Is this the God of the Bible ? 
Is this really in the Bible 1 Every pious mind will long to 
answer, " No ! no ! this is your infirmity." 

No ! it is not there in substance. It is not there for 

G 



82 



SATAN IN JOB THE CHIEF u DETECTIVE." 



doctrine. It is there only as the imagery of a poetic 
parable. 

This one consideration suffices to overthrow the hypothesis 
of those (the great majority of Bible readers) who suppose that 
the things here spoken of took place as ordinary things, such 
as eating, drinking, reading, talking, take place every day in 
the life you live at home and abroad. But I must offer ano- 
ther consideration. 

What is the picture here drawn ? It is the picture of an 
Oriental court, with transcendently more than its ordinary 
vsumptuousness. (Comp. 1 Kings xxii. 19.) It is audience day. 
The courtiers all assemble to pay homage to the King of kings. 
He comes forth in radiant majesty, and ascends the throne, 
blazing with incomparable gems. The prostrate worshipers 
arise, when one who, as well as others, has the right of entry, 
presents himself as not unknown nor undistinguished. The 
appearance, however imposing, is not unusual. Indeed, it is 
no less a personage than (to use intelligible language) " the 
King's Attorney-general," whose function is to keep watch 
and ward all over the empire, and to report to the Sovereign 
all breaches or probable breaches of the law. The accuser 
(such is the import of the Hebrew) rises to speak, when he is 
asked by the King, " Hast thou considered my servant J ob V 
" I have," is the reply ; " a fair-seeming one, but thoroughly 
selfish. Touch, him in a tender place, and he will curse 
thee to thy face." Job is touched, and touched so as to feel 
it keenly. Yet, instead of cursing God, he blesses him. 

Another grand court of audience is held, and there the 
King and his Attorney-general devise measures which over- 
throw their victim. 

We have looked at these scenes morally and declared them 
fiction. Look at them intellectually. Is this your idea of 
God 1 Is his universal presence, after all, to be dwarfed to 
the petty dimensions of an Oriental court, and his all-fostering 
and all-sustaining Providence to be reduced to the tinsel 
pageantry of a few score of Oriental courtiers ? 



THE POPULAR SATAN AND THE SATAN IN JOB. 83 



Take care lest, with such, a conception of God and Provi- 
dence, you bring the Bible into irrecoverable discredit, and 
condemn your religion to irreversible contempt. 

But now let us descend to minor things. This Satan is no 
Satan at all. The Satan of the churches and the creeds, the 
Satan of superstition, is a totally different being, as you will 
see if you run your eye down the items that stand in these 
parallel columns : 



Satan of the Priests. 
Satan is the source of all evil. 
Satan is the prince of devils. 
Satan is the antagonist of God. 
Satan defies God. 
Satan moves and works in hell. 
Satan is banished into darkness. 



Satan of the Book of Job. 
Satan is the accuser. 
Satan is one of the sons of God. 
Satan is God's instrument. 
Satan does God's bidding. 
Satan goes up and down on earth. 
Satan takes his place in the shining 
galaxy of God's heavenly court. 



It is a series of contrasts — contrasts most broad and striking. 
" The Satan of the Book of Job" is the contradiction of " The 
Satan of the Priests," and "The Satan of the Priests" is the 
caricature of " The Satan of the Book of Job." Scarcely have 
the two anything in common but the name. 

And even this they have not really in common. Satan in 
ordinary phrase denotes a fallen angel, the origin of all evil — 
a person of an angelic nature, though fell, ruthless and cruel 
in disposition and in act. This is Satan as held and taught 
by the popular teachers of Christendom, whether Papal or Pro- 
testant, Episcopalian or Presbyterian, Conformist or lioncon- 
formist. 

And what is Satan in the book of Job ? He is no person 
at all ; but a picture in a gallery of pictures ; an image in a 
work of imagery ; a character in a poem ; an actor in a drama ; 
an officer in a court — a court which exists nowhere in re rum 
natura, but in print, in manuscript, in painted Missals, now 
for many thousand years, but which originally existed in the 
teeming brain of some unknown Arabian poet. And what 
part does that poet make his Satan play ? He is the Accuser, 



84 THE SATAN EQUIVALENT TO THE ACCUSER. 



the Attorney-general, of the celestial law-court of final appeal. 
This is he and nothing more, and this only as a figment of 
some Oriental brain which, troubled with the terrible ques- 
tions, Whence evil ? What for ? Especially, Why do good men 
suffer ? Why does God create or permit suffering % Is suf- 
fering the punishment of sin? — troubled, puzzled, worn and 
wearied by these insoluble problems, rushed into verse, and 
freely spun his speculations as rather a relief to his labouring 
thoughts than in the hope of satisfying others more than he 
was satisfied himself, pleading the case, as he does, with ail 
the subtlety, dexterity and eloquence of the first law officer 
of the land. Satan is, then, not a person, but a character, 
a specific and well-known character, in an Oriental court. 
Just as the sovereign has his sword-bearer, his mace-bearer, 
his cup-bearer, his train-bearer, so has he his accuser, who, 
just as those officers are called also the sword-bearer, the 
train-bearer, &c, bears the descriptive title of the Accuser. 
So, then, the term proves to be no name at all, but simply 
a title, a legal title in a court of law. This important fact 
looks out (so to say) reproachfully from the original Hebrew ; 
as much as to say, " How could you make 'the Accuser' 
into your personal Satan?" Beyond a doubt it is in the 
original, the Satan (that is, the Accuser). Twelve times 
within about a score of verses does the word occur, and in 
every instance it has before it the distinctive prefix the, thus 
determining the meaning as official, and denoting a designa- 
tion, a well-known designation, of certain functions, certain 
subordinate and legal functions. The same determining force 
is found in the Septuagint or Greek translation of the Old 
Testament. There too it is " the Accuser."* I translate into 
ordinary English the Greek 6 diafioXog (the Accuser), because 
the English term devil has an acquired, an adventitious mean- 

* Theodotion, another ancient Greek translator of the Old Testament 
writings, has b apriKSifievog, that is the Adversary. Had Satan been 
regarded by him as a person, he would probably have retained the Hebrew 
word itself. 



THE BOOK OF JOB A SACRED DRAMA. 



85 



ing, or rather a cluster of meanings, born and bred of philo- 
sophic speculation, vulgar superstitions and ecclesiastical self- 
seeking, combined with child-like dread. 

For the view that I have now put forward and supported, 
I could easily find sanction in the writings of eminent theo- 
logical critics. One must suffice. Kenan denies that the Satan 
of the book of J ob is even the principle of evil ; much less, 
then, is he the leader of the rebel angels. These are Eenan's 
words : "The Satan which figures in the prologue is no way 
the Ahriman of the Ayesta; he does nothing but by the com- 
mand of God ; he is an angel more disposed to mischief than 
the others ; fault-finding, and given to scandal \ he is not the 
spirit of evil, existing and acting in and of himself."* 

Indeed, the book of Job represents no other reality than 
the highest of an earthly kind, namely, thought, religious 
thought, systematically and poetically expressed in what with 
some latitude may be called a Shemitic drama, whose object 
is to explain why good men suffer, and sometimes suffer 
heavily, under the ruling hand of God. In the sublime work, 
Satan is simply one of the dramatis personce. The whole 
being so manifestly in form a poem, the wonder is that cer- 
tain parts did not shew minds of ordinary discernment that 
God does not come on the stage in a part which ill comports 
wuth his acknowledged attributes, and consequently could 
never have been meant to represent the Creator himself in 
his proper character. How incompatible with such a view are, 
for instance, the questions put to the Satan, which imply 
ignorance on the part of the questioner, first as to the Satan's 
knowledge, and then as to the real character of the man of 
Uz. On such points, surely, the Omniscient needed no in- 
formation ; least of all did he need such information as he 
might expect to receive from "the father of lies." 



* Etude sur le Poeme de Job, p. xxxix. 



86 WHO MOVED DAVID TO NUMBER THE PEOPLE 1 



SECTION V. 

THE FOUR REMAINING PASSAGES OP THE OLD TESTAMENT IN WHICH THE 
WORD SATAN IS USED CONSIDERED : CONCLUSION. 

Neither the name nor the idea of Satan in any sense entered 
into the thought and phraseology of the Hebrews so long as 
they retained their genuine characteristics. Independently of 
the instances referred to as occurring in the book of Job, 
the word occurs in the Old Testament writings only four 
times ; viz. 1 Chronicles xxi. 1 ; Psalm cix. 6 ; Zechariah iii. 
1, 2. All these instances appear in writings of late or very 
late date. I will take them in the order in which they stand 
above. 

1 Chronicles xxi. 1 : " And Satan stood up against Israel 
and provoked David to number Israel." Here probably we 
have in the term Satan an instance of the depraving influ- 
ence exercised on the thought and the diction of the Shemitic 
Jews by the dualistic theory of Zoroaster. If so, then Satan 
in this case is the Hebrew form for the Aryan Ahriman. I am 
the more inclined to think that the word Satan here denotes 
" the devil," because, contrary to what it is in the book of Job, 
it is without the article, both in the Hebrew and the Greek. 
Yet the force is taken out of this scriptural testimony (such as 
it is) by the parallel passage found in the much earlier history 
of Samuel, where, with loyal regard to the true Hebrew T idea 
of the origin of good and evil, David, on the occasion spoken 
of in the text of Chronicles, is said to have been moved of 
God. The words run thus (2 Sam. xxi v. 1) : "The anger of 
Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he (not Satan) moved 
David against them to say, 6 Go and number Israel.' " This 
has sometimes been called a contradiction as to fact ; it is also 
a contradiction as to theology. 

The passage in the Psalms (cix. 6) is full of the bitter 
animosity of the Shemitic spirit, but makes no reference 



THE BITTER ELEMENT IN SHEMITISM. 



87 



whatever to the Satan of the schools and cloisters. In our 
version the words run thus : 

iC Set thou a wicked man over him, 
And let Satan stand at his right hand ;" 

where the law of parallelism requires the word. "Satan" to 
receive its meaning from the corresponding term in the previ- 
ous line, namely, fi£ a wicked man." Accordingly, King James' 
translators put " an adversary," as probably the better render- 
ing, in the margin. With greater propriety, Wellbeloved's 
translation, revised by Smith and Porter, gives the meaning 
in these words : 

" Give him in charge," they say, " to a wicked man, 
And let an accuser stand at his right hand." 

The heading of the psalm, supported only by conjecture, makes 
David its author. The style is too rank for his classic pen. 
The author is unknown. 

The foregoing makes it clear that no reference to the 
mythological Satan is made in this passage. 

I am thus brought to the last of the four passages in which 
the word Satan appears in the Old Testament. It is found 
in Zechariah iii. 1 — 8. Throw open your Bible, dear youth, 
and read the whole passage, which extends from i. — viii. 
Observe that you have here to do with a series of visions 
(i. 1, 8, iii.). It follows that here, too, I am not an ob- 
jective reality. Indeed, I am simply a form in a picture. 
And that form denotes, not a person, but a character. Not 
Satan am I, but the accuser in a process of krw, the scenes of 
which are depicted to the prophet's eye for the instruction of 
the people in regard to God's providence toward the Jews, 
now (in part) returned from exile. 

The simple facts are these. Zechariah, anxious to work 
with God for the thorough redemption of the Jews from 
slavery, aims most wisely at effecting a moral reformation, 
well knowing that such a change was the only means of 
securing God's permanent favour and the permanent welfare 



88 



GOD'S MERCIFUL DEALINGS WITH ISRAEL. 



of the state. Already a beneficial change had taken place. 
Yet the people were still open to impeachment. At this 
point a series of visions is, in the true Oriental manner, "brought 
into operation, in order to work to the desired result. Let it 
be premised that the civil and military power, as represented 
by Zerubbabel, is stanch for God and duty. Hardly can the 
same be said for either priest or people. Serious faults may 
be laid to their charge. Accordingly, Joshua the high-priest, 
the recognized representative as of the priesthood so of the 
people, appears in court in unclean raiments, denotative 
of the sins of his class and of the nation. Being placed in 
what in modern law usages is called the dock, the official 
accuser of God's court stands up and reads the indictment, 
which he illustrates and enforces. Thereupon God, the pre- 
siding Judge, moved by mercy, and by no means denying the 
inculpatory allegations, bestows a pardon, and in token of 
that grace commands the forgiven priest to be attired in holi- 
day raiment. The order is obeyed, and festivities ensue. 
Tli us ends the first act of the drama. 

Nevertheless, God's goodness, which naturally "leadethto 
repentance" (Rom. ii. 4), fails of its due effect. Again the 
Jews transgress and again they suffer. Still there are hope- 
ful signs, and God's goodness is inexhaustible. Another trial 
is conceded. Yea, favour is added to favour. Brilliant pro- 
mises are held out. Zerubbabel "the Branch" shall rebuild 
the temple and bring back bright and prosperous days. 

Here the curtain falls. And, such is the loving kindness 
of Jehovah, it falls in a sky so serene and charming as to 
promise a bright aurora on the morrow. 

The passage, thus set forth and explained in its true light, 
totally shuts out Ahriman, and makes God supreme and alone 
in his dealings with his people Israel. 

What, then, is the final result of our studies % Only the 
faintest trace (if any) is found of the sacerdotal Satan in 
the Old Testament, while the genuine Shemitic idea of God's 
sole and unshared sovereignty is distinctly and repeatedly 



SACERDOTAL CASTE-WORSHIP. 



89 



declared. Did space permit, I could easily follow this tes- 
timony up with illustrative implications, which, ascribing the 
moral government of the universe to God, exclude all and 
every partnership whatever. 

One instance, however, of the extreme rigour with which 
the sole sovereignty of Jehovah was guarded in the Hebrew 
religious thought, is presented in 1 Kings xxii., where the 
lying spirit which misled Ahab to death in battle is expressly 
and emphatically stated to have been put into the deceptive 
prophets by Jehovah himself : 

" The prophet of Jehovah, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, said : 
Hear the word of Jehovah: I saw Jehovah sitting on his 
throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his 
right hand and on his left. And Jehovah said : Yv T ho wull 
persuade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Eamoth-Gilead ] 
And one said on this manner, and another said on that 
manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before 
Jehovah, and said, I will persuade him. And Jehovah said 
unto him, Wherewith ? And he said, I will go forth, and I 
will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. And he 
(Jehovah) said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also ; 
go forth and do so. Xow therefore, lo ! Jehovah hath put a 
lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy (Ahab's) prophets, 
and Jehovah hath spoken evil concerning thee." 

Actuated by his prophets, who were actuated by Jehovah, 
Ahab, king of Israel, w T ent forth and fell in battle against Syria 
at Eamoth-Gilead. His fall was made dishonourable and offen- 
sive, for the dogs licked up his blood. This intensely Shemitic 
narrative only too markedly preserves the sole sovereignty of 
Jehovah ; only too markedly, I say ; for the jealousy of 
Jehovah is here painted in colours so black and distressing as 
to ascribe to him qualities and acts commonly held to be 
characteristic of myself. But this is not the first nor the last 
time that sacerdotal caste-worship has thrown a funereal pall 
over the face of the Father of the universe. 



90 



"THE FALL" A SPECULATIVE MYTH. 



CHAPTER It 

THE ARYAN OR PAGAN ELEMENT : " THE FALL," AN ALLEGORY 
IN PICTURES. 

I NOW approach a theme of surpassing importance, not so 
much indeed in itself, as in the nses to which it has been 
turned. I allude to what is termed " the Fall of Man." 
Here is the great theological reservoir. The whole system of 
current orthodoxy lies in germ here. Here is the root which 
has produced the myriads of huge folio tomes of theology and 
theological philosophy which burden the Shelves of libraries, 
small and great, public and private, all but innumerable. 
And here, finally, is the origin of the load of intellectual 
difficulty, moral complication, religious anxiety, doubt and 
despair, which has lain, like a grim incuhus, on the bosom of 
human beings whom Christ came to relieve, to liberate, and 
to make peaceful, for now nearly two thousand years. Yet 
this mountain of trouble and woe has been produced by theo- 
logical speculators and visionary poets — has been, I say, pro- 
duced and thrown up out of the mole-hill of a pagan myth. 

The Shemitic monotheism never wholly lost its influence 
among the Israelites so long as they maintained their political 
and religious polity on their native land of Palestine. Yet 
did they not always keep themselves free from Gentile pol- 
lution. The fact is illustrated in the second account of crea- 
tion given in Genesis ii. 4 — iii. 24. 

"The fall of man," as the ecclesiastical phrase runs, repre- 
sents a serpent as the occasion which " brought death into 
the world and all our woe," But no one pretends that I am 
expressly named in the narrative. Yet had I formed an 
essential element in the Hebrew religion, and had I been 
considered as myself the seducer of Eve, I should, it is fair to 
presume, have appeared in my own proper person. " But," 
says speculative theology, " you are denoted under the symbol 
of the serpent." I admit that the serpent does appear as a 



"the pall" a figure of speech. 



91 



symbol of seduction. But then if the serpent is a symbol, 
the whole account must be symbolic, and if symbolic, it is 
not historical, Thus "the Fair 1 itself falls to the ground. 

Do not suppose that this is the first time that what is called 
"the history of the Fall" has been pronounced a symbol. 
Philo, the great Jewish interpreter, expressly declares 
"These things are types shadowing forth some allegorical 
truth, according to some mystical application. The serpent 
is the symbol of bodily pleasure." With him, the Garden of 
Eden is the Divine TTisdoin on one side, and on another a 
disposition to virtue in the human soul. The trees of Para- 
dise are the offices and duties of life. The four streams are 
the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude 
and Justice. Man is desired to eat of the fruit of the trees 
of Paradise, because he must practise all the virtues. He is 
forbidden to taste of the tree of knowledge, because he must 
not abandon himself to vice, the evil of which is known only 
by its opposition to virtue. The death threatened in case 
of disobedience is that of the soul, &c. This allegorical 
method of explaining the Fall, though carried to extremes by 
Philo, was so satisfactory to the more early Christian Fathers, 
that they in general adopted it. Such is the averment of 
Dr. Geddes.t 

In Dr. Geddes I have introduced a high ecclesiastical 
authority. I will also give you the opinions of a learned and 
cultivated layman. Mr. R. W.- Mackay, in his well-written 
and instructive work on " The Progress of the Intellect as 
exemplified in the Eeligious Development of the Greeks and 
Hebrews," makes the following statements : 

"Narrative and fable were the earliest and most appro- 
priate vehicles of instruction. It was ever customary in the 
East to give an historical or narrative form to ideas and reason- 

* On the Creation of the World, sec. lvi. 

f The Holy Bible, faithfully translated by the Rev. Alexander Greddes, 
Vol. I. Preface, pp. vii, viii. 3 vols. 4to. London, 1792. 



92 



THE MYTHICAL SERPENT. 



ings which would now be enunciated as abstract propositions. 
They told a pleasant story, and left the moral to be extracted 
by the ingenuity of the hearer or reader. The tendency to 
make fact subordinate to the moral is seen in many of the 
so-called historical books of the Hebrews. In the narrative 
of the Fall, the object of the writer was to explain the great 
moral mystery, the origin of evil and the apparent estrange- 
ment from heaven ; to account for the presumed connection 
of increase of knowledge with increase of misery; and, in 
particular, to reconcile the great penalty of death with Divine 
Justice. Subordinate to these greater points were the ques- 
tions, Why is the earth covered with thorns and weeds ? 
Whence the origin of clothing, of sexual shame and passion ? 
Whence the infliction of labour ; and how are we to justify 
the degraded condition of women in the East, or to account 
for the loathing so generally felt towards the serpent tribe V 
(It 404, seq.) 

Having thus explained the general character of the narra- 
tive, I take up several particulars on which a few explanatory 
words seem desirable : and first, the serpent. The serpent 
in view of the ancients had two sides of character. It is 
the bad which he wears in Genesis. Here, as often, the 
serpent is a symbol, — a symbol of subtleness, temptation, 
malevolence. These are exactly the qualities of Ahriman. 

As a symbol of evil, the serpent* appears among the emblems 
of Seva-Eoudra, the Hindoo- power of desolation ' and death. 
It gnaws the roots of the tree of life in the Eddas, and bites 
the heel of the unfortunate Eurydice. Generally in Hebrew 
writers it is a type of evil (Ps. lviii. 4 3 cxl. 3 ; Prov. xxiii. 32 ; 
Eccles. x. 8, 11 j Sirach xxi. 2, xii 13), and is particularly 
so in the Indian and Persian mythologies. When the sea is 
churned by Mount Mandur, rotating within the coils of the 
cosmical serpent, to produce the Amrita or water of immor- 
tality, the serpent vomits a hideous poison, which spreads 

* Compare the comment in Bunsen's Bibelwerk, I., Gen. iii. 1, seq. 



ORIENTAL INJURIES TO WOMEN. 



93 



and infects the universe, but which Vishnu renders harmless 
by swallowing it. Ahriman, in serpent form, invades the 
realm of Ormuzd, tainting fire with smoke and light with 
darkness ; the kingdom of pure light becomes thenceforth 
shared with night, or divided between good and evil ; the 
destroyer strikes man with disease, and pollutes every part 
of nature. The bull, the emblem of life, is wounded and 
dies ; and the ancestors of the human race, tempted by the 
fruits which Ahriman presents to them, are made subject to 
pain and death. It was therefore a religious obligation with 
every devout follower of Zoroaster to exterminate reptiles 
and other "impure" animals, especially serpents. A particular 
season of the year was appointed for the purpose (77 tQp kclkwv 
avalpecrig, the destruction of the evil things); this was the 
third age of the world, when, in the chronology of the Persian 
legend, the assault of Ahriman occurred. ... It became a 
maxim of the Zend-Avesta, that Ahriman, the principle of 
evil, made the great serpent who assaulted the creation of 
Ormuzd.* 

Having identified the serpent and his brood with the 
Magian Abriman, I shall add a word or two respecting the 
selection of woman by the tempter. Woman, throughout the 
East, especially in ancient times, was held in disesteem. A 
volume might be compiled out of the disparaging words 
uttered against her. To confine myself to the Aryans. Brahma, 
the first man of Hindoo cosmogony, is linked to a demon 
wife, a daughter of Patala ; and in Persian legend the first 
woman, Meshiane, is the first victim to the seductions of 
Ahriman. She also was the first that sacrificed to the Dews 
or devils. These Dews or fallen angels having Ahriman at 
their head, oppose the Amshaspands, or good angels, and afflict 
those who lead righteous lives ; next comes Ancler ; next Savel ; 
next Tamad ; next Tarik ; next Zarelesh. Each Dew is the 

* The Progress of the Intellect, by Robert William Mackay, Vol. I. 421. 
Compare Gruigniaut's Religions de l'Antiquite, I. 181, 707, 742. 



94 



THE PARADISE OF FABLE. 



antagonist of one of the seven angels. The reign of Ahriman 
and his Dews is the kingdom of darkness. Here confusion 
and trouble are at their height. These monsters, being male 
and female, beget offspring, and multiply themselves under 
various forms, in order to tempt and torment human beings. 
Among the forms are the serpent and the wolf. The female 
Dews, who bear the name of Paris, instruct men in various 
kinds of magic and means of death. Both sexes take pos- 
session of men and women in order to carry into effect their 
opposition to Ormuzd by injuring and tormenting his chil- 
dren. For their expulsion the Zend-Avesta prescribes various 
ceremonies, purifications, sacrifices and prayers to Ormuzd 
and the pure spirits. Here you have the original of the Papal 
exorcism. Their kingdom will eventually be supplanted by 
the kingdom of light. As the triumph of the kingdom of 
light over the kingdom of darkness is a point in which Parsism 
surpasses the popular form of Christianity, I subjoin a distinct 
statement made by Zoroaster himself : 

" This unrighteous one (Ahriman), this impure one, who is 
nothing but a devil (Dew or Devas) in his affections, this 
stark-blind king of wickedness, he who does nothing but 
evil, will yet at the end speak the word, observe Ormuzd's 
laws, and introduce the wicked into the dwellings of the 
good."* 

The place where this "fall" was brought about w r as a 
garden or paradise (park). The ancient Persians were fond 
of gardens, or, as they termed them, paradises. They were 
indispensable appendages of regal abodes. The Persian Eden 
(or Pleasure-garden) was richly provided with animals, trees, 
plants and flowers of all kinds. Those gardens or parks were 
also connected with the mysteries of their religion. Ormuzd 
tells Zoroaster, " I have created, 0 Zoroaster, a place of de- 

* Zend-Avesta, von J. F. Kleuker, p. 87. Riga, 1789. Compare 
Zoroastre : Essai sur la Pbilosophie Religieuse de la Perse, par M. J. Meuart 
(Paris, 1858); and Les Civilisations Primitives en Orient, par L. A. 
Martin. Paris, 1861. 



zoroaster's descent into hell. 



9,5 



lights and abundance ; no one conld make its equal. There- 
upon came Ahriman, pregnant with death, and prepared in the 
river which watered it the great serpent of winter." 

Here notice "the river," for water is essential to the exist- 
ence of a garden in hot climates. Accordingly Eden, the 
model garden, has no less than four rivers. 

Moreover, the " Garden of the Lord" is planted with every 
pleasant and useful tree. Among those trees is " the tree 
of life," that obvious symbol met with in almost all mytholo- 
gies, and familiar in Scandinavia as in India, The tree of 
life grew also in the midst of the Hindoo paradise upon Meru. 
In the Zend-Avesta the tree of life is the divinely created 
source whence issues the first human pair. It bears the 
name of Horn, and grows by a fountain which springs from 
the throne of Ormuzd. 

Thenceforwards you will know whence these legendary ele- 
ments, kneaded into a certain systematic form in the schools, 
have come down to the present hour. One detail connected 
with " the Fall," the " descent of Christ into hell," is but a 
renewal of an act ascribed to Zoroaster. " This holy prophet 
visited heaven, and there received from Ormuzd the sacrecl fire, 
together with the word of life (the Zend-Avesta). Then he 
descended into hell j and finally, having completed his mis- 
sion, he ascended the mountain Albordj, where he conse- 
crated himself to meditation and piety."* 

The descent into the regions of darkness and death is only 
a relic of the ancient Sabaism or star-worship, which, widely 
spread over Asia, had special manifestations on the sea-board 
of Syria. It represented the god of day as, when winter came, 
sinking below the verge of the horizon, shorn of his beams, 
and stripped of his power, amid the weeping and wailing of 
the Phenician maidens. It would be easy to adduce other 
parallels from classic mythology. 

Doubtless the same physical phenomenon produced the 

* Gfuigniaut's " Religions de l'Antiquite, Vol. I. p. 317. 



96 



"the resurrection of the flesh.'' 



fable of Zoroaster's descent into hell, and this is the more 
probable, because in his case the descent is historically fol- 
lowed by a resurrection, that is in spring. I will give the 
outlines of the authoritative statements. 

While Zoroaster's body was a prey to the vultures, he him- 
self was not dead. Sustained and cherished by Ormuzd, he 
revived, and his revival entails a general revival. The dead 
will rise. Among them, first Kajomort§, Meshia and Mishiane. 
" Every man will come to life again. Souls will seek the 
bodies they formerly animated, and, recognizing one another, 
will say, this one, 4 There is my father that one, 6 There is 
my mother.' With the wicked, earthly bonds will be broken ; 
brothers will be separated from sisters, friends from friends. 
Then the heat of fire will enkiudle the universe, which will 
be one vast conflagration. In this torrent of liquid metals 
the pure will pass unhurt through the flames. In their turn 
the Darvands (an inferior order of Dews) will in their turn 
make their way through that burning furnace. They will be 
purified by the flames, and repent in their hearts. Then all 
men will join in a sublime sacrifice to the Amshaspands. 
Sosioch, at the head of the risen ones, seated on a throne of 
dazzling splendour, will preside over the grand offering of 
homage by the righteous. He will address his prayer to the 
Eternal One. A loud voice will echo through space, and these 
words will be heard: 'It is the Will of Ormlzd.'" * 
Ahriman alone will remain on earth. Then he will rush into 
the universal conflagration and come out purified. Hastening 
upwards, he will fall prostrate before Ormuzd, acknowledging 
him as the Sovereign and the just Judge. 

The last feature of Magism which I shall report, would of 
itself suffice to shew the extent to which ecclesiastical Chris- 
tianity is indebted to it. 

" Man in coming into life receives a kind of baptism which 

* Menant's Zoroastre : Essai sur la Philosophic Religieuse de la Perse, 
p. 89, seq. 



PERSIAN DEMOXOLOGY THE SOURCE OF DEMONOLOGIES. 



07 



purifies him, or rather withdraws him from the action of 
Ahriman. The moral taint, thus washed away, passes from 
generation to generation. The malignant spirit is always near 
to whisper evil into the ear of every new-comer. As soon as 
a human being comes into the world, the Dews rush on him 
and take him into their power. It is in consequence neces- 
sary to prevent their sinister designs, and to neutralize their 
pernicious influences. The application of these counterac- 
tions and remedies is in the hands of the priests, an hierar- 
chical order of several ranks. The high-priest represents 
Ormuzd and is superior to the king. The archimage is thus 
the veritable head of the nation. He is the king of kings. 
In vain do the princes deduce their prerogatives from heaven. 
They must bend their knee before the head of the Church." 
(Menant, pp. 140—145.)* 

You cannot mistake the striking resemblance that exists 
between the Magi of ancient days and the priests of modern 
times. The likeness has existed from at least the fourth 
century of the Christian era. 

I have represented the Persian demonology as the principal 
source of all later demonologies. This involves a question of 
date. The Persian doctrine is deeply sunk in the archaeology 
of the Aryan races. So deeply sunk is it as to precede by 
many centuries similar modes of thought found in Western 
lands. It may, however, be asked, whether it is not posterior 
in time to the second account of creation found in Genesis. 
That of these two, one is a copy, or that both have a common 
origin, there can be no doubt. But the complete and 
systematic character of the Persian account speaks for its 
originality. Then the name for the Deity, "Jehovah God," 
used in the Biblical narrative, brings its date clown to a late 
day in Hebrew history — a day indeed so late as to be long 
posterior to the origin of the Persian mythology. Finally, I 
must here caution you against a common mistake. The Biblical 

* Gruigniaut, Vol. I. p. 317; Zoroastre, Essai stir la Philosophie de. 

H 



98 DIVERGENCE BETWEEN THE GENESIS ACCOUNTS OF CREATION. 

account, as treating of the creation, is in ordinary minds so 
associated with the origin of the universe as to cause a chro- 
nological confusion which blindly, but none the less forcibly, 
identifies the date of the narrative with the date of creation. 
You may think that, as Moses was the author of the Pen- 
tateuch, the narrative in question must have been written 
before his death. I must disabuse your mind, my dear friend. 
In all theology there is not a more groundless theory than 
that the first five books of the Bible came from the pen of that 
great legislator. The most recent, which is also scientifically 
the highest, authority declares : " The opinion so generally 
received, according to which the Pentateuch, as a whole, is 
the work of Moses, finds no support in the Pentateuch itself. 
In no part does that collection ascribe a Mosaic origin to the 
five books taken together. It even seems to affirm the con- 
trary, so far as the first four are concerned, for they tell us 
either that Moses was commanded to write such and such an 
event, or that he put into writing certain fragments w T hich we 
still possess in those books . There would be no sense in these 
declarations if the author meant to attribute to himself equally 
all the rest. What is actually recorded is the fact that Moses 
wrote certain portions, which are of small extent. And this 
is all we are told and all we know."* I add a few additional 
words from Dr. Kuenen's valuable production, bearing on what 
I have said on my own authority. 

" As to what concerns Genesis, we must specially notice 
the very remarkable divergence there is between the two 
accounts of the creation. The second narrative commences 
by the formation of Adam, then recounts the creation of trees 
and plants, then that of animals, finally that of the woman. 
-Now, on all these points, it is positively contrary to the first 
narrative" (p. 25). "As to the second account of the crea- 
tion, it is certainly not by the same author as the first" (p. 145). 

* Historisch-Kritisch Onderzoek de Boeken des Ouden Verbonds, &c, by 
Professor Kuenen. of the Leyden University; the French Translation, I. 13. 

Paris, 1866. 



ASTRUC AND COLEXSO. 



99 



H The contrast between these two writings goes very far. In 
the author of the first account, the Elohist, there is great 
simplicity, even great uniformity in the particulars of the 
revelations made by God to Noah and the patriarchs. Earely 
is he anthropomorphistic. The Jehovist from whom we have 
the second account is far from such sobriety. Angels, dreams, 
heavenly voices, are at his disposal when he represents God as 
speaking. And he is so little afraid to ascribe to God human 
emotions, that he makes God repent at having created man. 
Worse still, God comes down to inspect the city and the 
tower of Babel" (p. 153, seq.). " That conception of sin, of its 
origin, of its universality, denotes that the author had reflected 
much on religious subjects, and compels us to assign to him a 
date comparatively recent" (p. 157). "These researches have 
demonstrated that no solid argument attests the existence of 
the Pentateuch before the exile" (p. 243). 

There is, however, one peculiarity in the second account by 
which it is clearly and decisively distinguished from the first. 
Every time the writer mentions the Creator, he calls him Lord 
God ( Jehovah Elohim), whereas in the former narrative the 
sole name for the Supreme Eeing is God ( Elohim ). Kor is 
this an accidental difference, for the term Jehovah Elohim 
occurs eleven times. I may add, that after what I have said 
of the gradual unfolding of the idea of God in the Hebrew 
mind, you will see that the difference is one of the highest 
moment. Moreover, the difference decides that the second 
account is posterior in date to the first, inasmuch as by the 
title Jehovah God, or the Self-subsistent and Eternal God, it 
bespeaks a later, I might say, a much later authorship. 

As this is a considerable point, I will remark that the view 
I have just given has in its favour the authority of the first 
Biblical critics. Originated in 1753, by Astruc, a Belgian 
physician,* the idea that the different names ascribed to God 

* " Conjectures sur les Memoires Originaux dont il paroit que Moyse 
s'est servi pour Composer le Livre de la Genese." 

H 2 



10 f) THE HEBREW MIND INTUITIVE, THE ARYAN SPECULATIVE. 



denoted a difference of authorship, was accepted at first slowly 
by theologians of eminence, bnt being in the course of inquiry 
and time more fully developed and thoroughly established, it 
has since found all but universal acceptance from the days of 
Dr. Geddes (1792) down to those of Bishop Colenso. 

The second account of the creation betrays the lateness of 
its origin by its essential character. While the first account 
is intuitive, the second is speculative. While the first is a 
poem, the second is a mythologue. The former implicates the 
action of man's spiritual nature ; the latter, the sway of his 
imagination in union with his intellect. The first answers 
the great question, " Whence this universe I" The second 
attempts to solve the question, " How ?" The answer to the 
former comes from God speaking in the universe itself. The 
attempt involved in the latter is rebuked where Scripture 
says : 

" Canst thou by searching find out God? 
Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection ? 
It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? 
Deeper than Hades ; what canst thou know f 

The speculative character of the document refers us to a spe- 
culative source for its origin. The genuine Hebrew mind is 
intuitive, not speculative. But speculation is the chief cha- 
racteristic of the Aryan mind. Hence we are directed to 
Persia or India for the birth-place of the myth. And as to 
its age, it cannot have been either born or bred in Pales- 
tine until the national mind had been debased by tendencies 
quite alien to its own inherent qualities. And thus we are 
brought down to the age of Ezekiel, Ezra and Xehemiah. 
This was the period when the national spirit of Hebrewism 
was impregnated and lowered by mythologizing currents of 
thought, coming from Babylon, Ecbatana, and the banks of 
the Indus. 

And now you will readily see how it came to pass that a 
serpent was introduced into the narrative. Our author wanted 
to say that sin was disobedience to the known will of God, 



SIN IS DISOBEDIENCE TO THE WILL OF GOD : 



101 



arising out of improper desire. These are very abstract 
things; they are things of the moral and religious order. 
They have to be declared to human beings in their infancy. 
How is it to be done ? Symbols must be employed. In other 
words, the eye must be addressed. Only through that avenue 
can man's moral sense be reached. Again the Black Board 
is used. A recognized symbol is employed to denote God. 
An apple, and consequently an apple-tree, is chosen to denote 
a pleasant attraction. " As yet, however, the picture does not 
speak. It says nothing. To supply this serious deficiency, 
the form of a serpent is introduced. This is the recognized 
symbol of seduction. The serpent, erect on its tail, has its 
head, with, the apple in its mouth, directed to the woman. 
Another picture places the apple on the ground, lying as 
visible to both, who now appear as conversing the one with 
the other, the serpent persuasively, the woman hesitatingly. 
A third picture shews the woman eating the apple with 
manifest delight ; and a fourth one exhibits the man doing 
the same. The story is told. The first sin is committed, and 
by means of another series or two you are taught in full that 
sin is disobedience to the will of God. 

The woman's will was clearly moved by an internal desire. 
That desire may have been the sexual passion, the indulgence 
of which w r as in itself, as innocuous, so innocent, if only be- 
cause that desire she could not have felt had it not been 
planted in her by the hand of the Creator, and for purposes 
no less beneficent than wise. Hitherto we have not got to 
the bitter root of sin. Say the desire was appetite for food, 
and you are no nearer the guilty cause. You throw the blame 
on me. Yet I did but shew her the apple and tell her it was 
good. The occasion of her sin you may call me, but certainly 
not the cause. The cause is to be found rather in the old 
Shemitic idea, that God is the author of evil as well as good. 
He made Eve what she was, and what she was made sin in 
her case inevitable. There she stood a poor weakling, not 
knowing good from evil \ stimulated by impulse and open to 



102 



TO KNOW THIS IS THE FIRST STEP UPWARDS. 



misrepresentation. I did not make her suck I merely 
offered her something attractive to the eye, pleasant to the 
taste, and nutritious to the body. She accepted my offer, 
sinned, and led her husband into sin. Wherein then lay 
the sin ? In her wilful disobedience to her Maker's prohibi- 
tion. She had been told not to eat the apple. Yet she did 
eat it ; and, disobeying God, sinned. But God represents 
the moral law. Sin, then, is disobedience to a moral law ; 
that is, an internal power. The woman sinned because she 
did that which she knew she ought not to do. So acting, 
she sinned against her own light. She could not then have 
been absolutely ignorant of good and right in contradistinc- 
tion to bad and wrong. Had she been thus blind, she could 
not have sinned. Total moral blindness is incapable of doing 
wrong no less than of doing right. A stock being devoid of 
moral perceptions is incapable of sinning. The account then 
cannot mean that the woman was so blind, for such blindness 
would have reduced her into a mere animal. Bather the 
account implies that the woman was open to moral impres- 
sions, when it makes her hear the word of God : " Thou shalt 
not." Her condition was that dubious one which, seeing 
duty, sees it not ; hearing its voice, hears it not. Perilous 
position for such a moral infant as the woman manifestly was ! 
It needed not the quasi-omnipotence theory ascribes to me 
to occasion her fall. Let but an occasion come, and her fall 
was unavoidable. It came ; she fell. TThat was the conse- 
quence 1 " So the man is become as one of us, to know good 
and evil" (Gen. iii. 22). "Well, then, if I had caused her 
sin, I had rendered her the greatest possible service, and I 
claim the honour of having made Adam and Eve moral 
beings. Before, they had the moral capacity solely in embryo. 
I acted as the widwife, and the grand speciality of man was 
born. This inevitable conclusion I press on your mind, if 
only to shew you how dangerous it is to build theological 
theories on these archaic stories. Certainly, hard names and 
damaging charges such as I have so long suffered under should 



JEWISH DEM0N0L0GY 



103 



be studiously avoided, when their sole ground is a strained 
interpretation of a figurative incident. 

Finally : if now you look back over what I have said of 
" the Fall of Man," and, studying these details, consider the 
whole matter in the light of God's dealings in Providence, as 
declared by universal history, the Bible included, you will 
not improbably be led to the conclusion, that what is theolo- 
gically called "man's ruin," is really man's first step out of 
his animal condition into the ascensional pathway of ceaseless 
progress. 



CHAPTEK III. 

THE JEWISH ELEMENT AS SEEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 
APOCRYPHA ; ALEXANDRINE DEMO NOLO GY" ; JOSEPHUS ] THE 
PSEUDEPIGRAPHS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT j THE BOOK OF 
ENOCH j THE TALMUD AND CABBALISTS. 

Hebrewism offered me little, if any, hospitality. Indeed, 
in one way it waged ruthless war upon me, while in course 
of time it came to oppose in good earnest the pagan Baal, 
Aloloch and Ashteroth, from whom it had been delivered by 
the hand of God. 

A more auspicious reception was I favoured with by that 
mixture of Aryan with Shemitic influences which gave birth 
to Judaism, the immediate forerunner of the Christianity of 
the Church, as contradistinguished from the Christianity of 
Christ. 

The darker and depravating elements which produced the 
impure amalgam, I proceed to set before you in one or two 
brief outlines. 

Let me shortly resume what I have said of demonology in 
connection with the Shemitic spirit. The two stand in mutual 



104 



IS FOUND IN THE BOOK OF TOBIT. 



opposition, so far as first principles are concerned. Only on 
the surface of the Old Testament have I left an imprint of 
myself, and in that imprint you can see the trace of no horns, 
no cloven feet, no tail. Even in the later literature of the 
Hebrew nation, which I will term Jewish, I cannot boast of 
great prominence. And yet here I sowed seed which, under 
ecclesiastical fostering, brought forth a plentiful crop. The 
Jewish belief in evil spirits was formed under the influence 
of Parsism ; yet that influence, checked by the resistance 
offered to it by the Shemitic spirit, produced effects at first 
not of a very marked nature nor on a very large scale. The 
most that it did was to give a certain consistence to obsolescent 
traditions derived from paganism that lingered in the popular 
mind, and to find support in Oriental imaginations, when 
not tempered and controlled by a severe and spiritual mono- 
theism. 

iSTot till you come down after the exile to the Jewish 
Apocryphal book of Tobit do you find clear traces of the 
demonology of the Jews of Palestine and the Jews of Baby- 
lonia. A devil, by name Asmodeus, who appears in the Talmud 
as the divinity of lust, and even as the prince of evil spirits, 
falling in love with Sarah, daughter of Eaguel, a citizen of 
Ecbatana, kills for his own vile purpose seven young men who 
successively were to be her husbands (iii. 8, vi. 14). By the 
advice of the angel Eaphael, who has become travelling com- 
panion to Tobit's son, the devil is put to flight by the smoke 
which rises from the liver of a fish placed on burning coal, 
and hastens to hide himself in the deserts of Upper Egypt, 
where he is thrown into chains by the angel Eaphael. His 
demoniacal rival being thus disposed of, Tobit takes Sarah 
to wife, and consummates the marriage without let or hin- 
drance. The power possessed by the devil was given him of 
God, in order that Sarah's virtue might be tried and esta- 
blished. 

Asmodeus ( tempter ), judging by his name, a Persian by 
birth, supports the reference of the Biblical doctrine to Baby- 



THE PERSIAN ORIGIN OF THE JEWISH DEMONOLOGY. 105 



Ionia. The same effect ensues from the acquaintance with 
Mesopotamia manifested in his style by the unknown author 
of the book, who, if not a native, must have travelled in those 
lands. Consequently he was acquainted with the Persian 
demonology. Indeed, he introduced into the writing as much 
of it as he could make comport with the Jewish monotheism, 
without going as far as the Mazdean dualism, which in its 
proper form does not figure in any^ Jewish composition, and 
without making me a rival power to that of God. 

From the character of the book you are justified in in- 
ferring the Magian origin of the Jewish demonology. Taking 
into account the Persian origin of the name Asmodeus, w 7 hich 
rests on the high authority of Belaud, we may declare that 
the Jewish view of myself regarded me as the tempter of 
human beings. In this unenviable aspect 1 am symbolized 
in Genesis, as you are aware, and thus the connection of the 
Jewish demonology with that of Persia is put beyond a doubt. 
The union of the two makes an appearance in these words of 
Tobit's : " Thou madest Adam of the dust of the earth, and 
gave him Eve for a helper" (Tobit viii. 8 ; Gen. ii. iii.). 

Similar in result is the account which the angel Eaphael 
gives of himself : "I am the angel Eaphael" (a beautiful young 
man (Tobit v. 5), one of the seven who stand before the 
Lord, " the good angel of God" (Tobit v. 27). "When thou 
(Tobit's father) didst pray with tears and didst bury the dead, 
I offered thy prayer to the Lord ; and because thou wast 
acceptable to the Lord, it was necessary that temptation should 
prove thee." (Comp. Job ii. 3, seq.). "And now the Lord hath 
sent me to heal thee and to deliver Sarah thy son's wife from 
the devil. And when they heard these things they were 
seized with fear and fell prostrate on the ground. And the 
angel said to them, Pear not ; for now that I am with you, 
I am here by the will of Gocl ; bless ye him and sing his 
praises. I seemed, indeed, to eat and to drink with you ; 
but I use meat and drink which cannot be seen by men. 
Xow then it is time that I return to him that sent me. He 



10G THE FIRST BOOK OF MACCABEES. 

was then taken from their sight and was seen no more. 
Then they, lying prostrate for three hours, blessed God, and, 
rising up, told all his wonderful works." (Tobit xii.) 

Here you have a curious mixture of Aryan and Shemitic 
elements. The angel Raphael, though he has a Shemitic 
name, appears as the chief of the seven angels, which recal 
the seven Persian Amshaspands, the pure spirits or angels 
whom Ormuzd created by Honover, his Word. On the other 
side, Asmodeus, though he has a Persian name, is God's 
instrument w T hereby to try Tobit and Sarah, even as Satan 
was for the trial of the virtue of Job. Moreover, the Shemitic 
element predominates, for God sends Raphael, and Raphael 
returns back to God, while Asmodeus is so subordinate to God 
that Raphael binds him in chains, and so puts a stop to his 
demoniacal doings. (Comp. Tobit ii. 12.) 

The word devil presents itself in the first book of Mac- 
cabees (i. 36), where, speaking of apostate Jews who, ren- 
dering aid to Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greek assailant and 
bitter enemy of the nation, took up a position on Mount Zion 
as a point of assault against brethren who were faithful to 
the religion of their forefathers, and whom they hoped to 
seduce and paganize, the author of this apocryphal history 
declares, " they became a great snare against the sanctuary 
and an evil devil in Israel." The term employed signifies a 
misleader. Such is the nature of the act here ascribed to 
the Hellenized Jews. But in this the only passage found in 
the Palestinian Apocrypha, it is a devil, and not the devil, 
that is offered to your reflections. And this devil, while not a 
hundredth part so black as the devil of the Church, receives 
his darkest tint from the adjective bad, implying that it was 
possible to be a devil without at least being so very malignant. 
This is a point that I have repeatedly drawn your attention 
to. But how is the term " a bad devil " used here ? In a 
literal sense or figuratively 1 These apostates were in inten- 
tion misleaders, seducers in reality, and may well be so cha- 
racterized, without any reference to any system of demonology 



DEMONOLOGY OF ALEXANDRIA. 



107 



or any demoniacal category. Different would have been the 
meaning did the Scripture present the term the devil. Then 
there might be a reference to the Persian Ahriman in a Judaical 
form. As it is, the import is so uncertain as to add little, if 
anything, to what I have already set before you. 

The Jewish demonology of Alexandria has a more serious 
character. It is free from the low and vulgar falsities with 
which that of Palestine is laden. It consists of two essential 
features. With the Alexandrine Jews, the demons are the 
false divinities of paganism. Proof of the statement is fur- 
nished by the Septuagint or Greek translation of the Hebrew 
Scriptures. Every time that the Old Testament mentions 
the pagan idols, the Seventy translate the word by the Greek 
laLjxovLov^ demon. (Ps. xcvi. [xcv. in the LXX.] 5, cvi 
[cv.] 37.) 

The same view is taken by the Alexandrine author of the 
second part of the Apocryphal Baruch. " You have," the 
writer says to the Israelites whom he reproaches with their 
idolatry, " sacrificed to demons and not to God." This meta- 
morphosis of the pagan divinities, thus, after the manner of 
the Persian Dews, turned into devils, arose from the repul- 
sion and hate called forth in the Hellenistic Jews by the 
offensive idols of Egypt, in the midst of which they lived, 
and presents another version of " the fall of the angels." 
The notion, the origin of which is here offered, passed at a 
later day into the Church, and was patronized by nearly all 
the fathers. 

A conception of a different order, though not less false and 
injurious, is indicated by the author of the Apocryphal book 
of Wisdom : " God created man for immortality ; he made 
him in his own image. The envy of the devil introduced 
into the world death, which has become the universal inherit- 
ance. Those who declare themselves on his side experience 
the cruel effects" (ii. 23 — 25). This is the first time that you 
can find allusion to the story of the temptation of Adam and 
Eve by the serpent, and to its disastrous consequences. Bat 



108 FIGURATIVE DEMOXOLOGY OF THE APOCALYPSE. 

here the fable stops, leaving a wide interval between itself and 
the orthodoxy of which it is the parent. Once mentioned in 
the writing of some unknown Alexandrine Jew, the devil 
does not recur even to the end. It must be admitted that 
as I was shunned hv pure Hebrewism, I receive scant favour 
from its degenerate Egyptian form. The doctrine, too, of ori- 
ginal sin, thus referred to, passes out of sight, as if ashamed 
of itself. The half-paganized and speculative author of Wis- 
dom deduces no consequence therefrom. ISTor after him does 
it re-appear in the writings of the Alexandrine Jews. Coming 
into existence at a somewhat degenerate time, the second 
account of creation would not find a favourable soil in Hebrew- 
ism, even when in later ages diluted and beclouded by pagan 
apocryphal speculation. It is unknown even to Philo, with 
all his love of mystic double senses. From Josephus it 
receives a sense very different from what is now accounted 
orthodoxy \ for with him the serpent is a serpent, and the 
chief blame is thrown on Adam and Eve as wilfully disobey- 
ing God ; but not a word is uttered of the alleged transmis- 
sion of sin. While the notion of a personal devil is either 
disowned and kept in the back-ground among the superior 
writers of those days, it probably found some dark channel 
of transmission, for it presents itself again for the first time in 
the Apocalypse (xi. 7 — 9), which is one of the earliest books 
of the Xew Testament : " And there was war in heaven : 
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon ; and the 
dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not ■ neither was 
their place found any more in heaven \ and the great dragon 
was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan 
which deceive th the whole world ; he was cast out on to the 
earth, and his angels were cast out with him." And yet, even 
here, the use thus made of certain names is nothing more 
than figures of speech borrowed from the demonology of the 
day, as the most suitable and forcible verbal descriptions of 
the pagan forces that under imperial Eome warred against the 
infant Church. 



PHILO AND JOSEPHUS, 



100 



Sot easily did I graft myself on the good and sound old 
stock of Hebrew thought. 

The explanation of sin and death by the action of a bad 
principle or person was foreign to the Greek philosophy, at 
least in the sense in which it was understood by the author of 
the book of Wisdom. Accordingly there is no reason for 
surprise that it does not appear in Philo. In his system 
of religious metaphysics there is indeed a certain dualism ; but 
it is the Greek dualism, that is, the opposition of spirit and 
matter, of activity and passivity, of being and not-being. 
And this dualism, although it is in reality connected logically 
with the dualism of moral good and evil, of Ormuzd and 
Ahriman, is an older and a milder form of the absolute 
dualism and ceaseless conflict fabled in ecclesiastical writers 
as existing and proceeding between God and myself. 

^Moreover, Philo attaches no metaphysical importance to 
the theory of demons. Only once does he mention it in his 
numerous pages (De Gigantibus, § 4) \ and the idea which he 
forms of it does not rise above the superstitions spread in 
Palestine as to evil angels. He fancies that their chief occu- 
pation lies in exciting impure desires in human beings. 

From the middle of the second century before Christ to the 
day of the downfall of Jerusalem, demonology seems to have 
considerably gained substance and prominence in Palestine. 
Josephus, without once employing the word devil or the word 
Satan, speaks of demons frequently; and as his opinions on 
the subject were doubtless those of his fellow- Jews, you may 
hence conclude that notions of the kind were widely spread 
around him. 

Kef erring to the multitude of magicians and conjurors 
that misled the people in the war against Eome, Josephus 
(J. War, II. xiii. -1) describes them in these words: "full of 
deceit and of a kind of divine impulse, eager for change and 
novelty, they seduced and maddened (demonized) the multi- 
tude." 

This demonizing of the people has its parallel in the fury with 



110 



HOW TO CAST OUT DEMONS. 



which his soldiers were stirred to mutual slaughter by Eleazar 
(J. War, VII. ix. 1). Such madness and such fury, though 
intense, is not what is commonly meant by devilish or de- 
moniacal. 

Passing from the verb Sai/jKovdv (to demonize ), I come to 
the noun ccu/uoviov ( demon ), and find that Josephns attributes 
the evil spirit which actuated Saul to the presence and ter- 
rible workings of "the evil spirit" and the demons which 
David cast out by the sweet tones of his lyre (J. War, VI. 
viii. 2, viii 8). Here we seem to have demons before us as 
wicked spirits. The method of exorcism employed by David 
is superseded in Josephus by one of a less pure, and, I should 
add, less efficacious character. 

The method of exorcism is described by the historian of 
the Jews in another passage (Antiq. VIII. ii. 5) : " God 
enabled Solomon to learn that skill which expels demons. 
He also composed such incantations as alleviate distempers. 
Moreover, he left behind him the way to employ exorcisms, 
by which they drive away demons so that they can never 
return. This method of cure is of great force unto this day. 
I have seen a fellow-countryman of my own, by name Eleazar, 
releasing people who were demoniacal in the presence of Ves- 
pasian, and his sons and captains and the whole multitude 
of his soldiers." 

The manner of cure was this : putting a ring bearing a 
root called Baaras (J. War, VII. vi. 3) to the nostrils of the 
demoniac, he thence drew the demon out of the possessed 
person, who fell down on the earth. Then he adjured the 
demon not to return, supporting his adjuration by the name 
of Solomon and by incantations. Wishing to persuade the 
spectators that he had the power of exorcising demons, he 
set a little way off a basin of water, and bade the demon, on 
leaving his victim, to overturn it, thereby shewing the people 
fthat he had left the man; and thus promoting the glory of 
Solomon. (Com p. Matt. xii. 27.) In a different place (J. War, 
VII. vi. 3), Josephus, describing another method of exorcism, 



THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Ill 



gives us his opinion as to what the demons were : " The root 
Baaras, if applied to sick persons, quickly draws away those 
called demons, which are no other than the spirits of wicked 
men, that, entering living men, kill such as have no aid." 

If you look back on these statements, you will more easily 
pronounce them puerile and fantastic than consistent one with 
another. Eow their author uses language which seems to 
imply a race of wicked spirits, now intensely exciting influences 
acting on sensitive and epileptic individuals. The two views, 
not wholly incompatible, may find a point of union in a 
kingdom and a king of darkness, who, though mighty, is con- 
trollable by great names and powerful charms. The general 
tenor of this demonology, however, presents, at least in germ, 
superstitions which are found in fuller and more exact form, 
first, in the 2sew Testament, and then in the Church of the 
middle and later ages. 

It may seem strange to you that, if at the time J udsea was 
seething, as it was, with Magian falsities, Josephus, the professed 
historian of his country, should present traces of them so few 
and indistinct. Your surprise will be removed when I tell 
you that the Jewish historian was a sycophant. The tendency 
of the age was to paganize the institutions, usages and cha- 
racter of the Jewish people. For now nearly a century that 
anti-national, unpatriotic and irreligious tendency had been in 
active operation. At last, in the year 70 (A. D.), it had reached 
its height, and then the J ewish church and state sank under 
the battering-rams of Vespasian and Titus. To those Eoman 
and idolatrous princes J osephus paid adulterous homage, and 
received his reward in court honours and fine estates in his 
conquered native land. 

By the side of the Apocrypha of the Old Testament, whether 
Palestinian or Alexandrine, and of the works of Philo and 
of Josephus, there is a certain number of writings bearing 
a very equivocal character, known under the title of " The 
Pseudepigraphs" (falsely named or supposititious) "of the Old 
Testament." 



r 



112 THE BOOK OF ENOCH THE PROPHET. 

As yet we are acquainted with but one demon designated 
by his own name ; it is Asmodeus of the book of Tobit. The 
Jewish pseudepigraphs, whose demonology is surprisingly rich, 
supply us with several others. First comes Beliar, the Syriac 
form of the Hebrew Belial, respecting whom Paul asks 
(2 Cor. vi. 15), " What concord hath Christ with Belial ] " In 
the Sybilline books, Beliar is Antichrist, and consequently the 
prince of demons.* Then come the twenty chiefs of the 
demons, whose names are carefully registered in the book of 
Enoch (vii., comp. Jude 14), the author of which seems to 
have enriched his demonology with the superstitions of all 
the sects of his age. 

As this book of 'Enoch t is very rare in England, and as 
it supplies a fair sample of the tone of the literature with which 
I am dealing, I transcribe those names in the connection in 
which they stand : the quotation is an expanded and distorted 
version of the words in Genesis (vi. 2) : " The sons of God saw 
the daughters of men that they were fair ; and they took them 
wives of all which they chose : " 

" It happened after the sons of men had multiplied in those 
days, that daughters were born to them, elegant and beautiful. 
And when the angels, the sons of heaven, beheld them, they 
became enamoured of them, saying to each other, Come, let us 
select for ourselves wives from the progeny of men, and let 
us beget children. Then their leader, Samyaza, said to them, 
I fear that you may be indisposed to this enterprize, and that 
I alone shall suffer for so grievous a crime. But they an- 
swered him and said, We all swear, and bind ourselves by 
mutual execrations that we will execute our project. Then 
they swore all together and bound themselves by mutual 
execrations. Their whole number was two hundred, who 

* Oracula Sybillina, edited by Alexander, II. 169, III. 63, 64. 

f The Book of Enoch the Prophet, an Apocryphal Production, now first 
translated by Richard Lawrence, D.D., Archbishop of Cashel. 3rd ed. 
revised. Oxford, 1S38. With this should be read, Das Buch Henoch 
Uebersetzt und erklart von Dr. A. Dillman. Leipzig, 1853. 



THE APOCRYPHAL " FALL OF THE ANGELS." 



113 



descended upon Ardis, which is upon the top of Mount 
Armon. These are the names of their chiefs: Samyaza, who 
was their leader; Urakaba.rameel, Akibeel, Tamiel, Ramuel, 
Danel, Azkeel, Sarakuyel, Asael, Armers, Batrael, Anane, 
Zavebe, Samsaveel, Ertael, Turel, Yomyael, Azazyel. Then 
they took wives, each choosing for himself; whom they began 
to approach, and with whom they cohabited ; teaching them 
sorcery, incantations, and the dividing of roots and trees. 
And the women conceiving, brought forth giants, whose 
stature was each three hundred cubits. These devoured all 
which the labour of men produced, until it became impossible 
to feed them; when they turned themselves against men in 
order to devour them ; and began to injure birds, beasts, 
reptiles and fishes, to eat their flesh one after another, and to 
drink their blood. Moreover, Azazyel taught men to make 
swords; A mazarak taught the sorcerers; Armers taught the 
solution of sorcery ; Barkayel taught the observers of the stars ; 
Akibeel taught signs ; Tamiel taught astronomy ; and Asaradel 
taught the motion of the moon. And men being destroyed 
cried out, and their voice reached heaven. Then Michael and 
Gabriel, Raphael, Suryel and Uriel, looked down from heaven 
and saw the quantity of blood Avhich Avas shed on earth, and 
heard the cries. Then they said : 6 0 ye holy ones of heaven, 
the souls of men complain, saying, Obtain justice for us with 
the "Most Hio-h.' And the holv ones said : 6 Lord of lords, 
King of kings, God of gods, thou hast seen what Azazyel has 
done, how he has taught every species of iniquity upon earth; 
and how Samyaza, to whom thou gavest authority over his 
associates, has taught sorcery; how they have lain with the 
daughters of men and produced giants; and behold the souls 
of the dead cry out and complain even to the gate of heaven — 
what then ought we to do to them ] ' Then the Most High spoke 
and sent Arsayalalgar to Lamech, saying ; 'Say to him in my 
name, Conceal thyself ; the waters of a deluge shall come over 
all the earth and destroy all things.' And the Lord said to 
Raphael: 4 Bind Azazyel hand and foot, and cast him into 



114 DEM0N0L0GY OF " THE BUCH OF ENOCH.'* 

darkness ; there shall he remain for ever, and in the great day 
of judgment let him be cast into fire,' To Michael likewise 
the Lord said : 1 Go and announce his crime to Samyaza and 
to those who are with him. Take them away into the lowest 
depths of the fire ; in torments and in confinement shall they 
be shut up for ever.'" 

There you have the full picture of " the fall of the angels," 
involving the incarceration of Azazyel, their leader, and the 
everlasting punishment with which their crimes were repaid : 
the entire fiction of "the devil and his angels" you have 
there in an anonymous book anterior to Christ, and long 
anterior to the Gospels and the 2s~ew Testament in general, 
including the Apocalypse, which still retains, as do the Gospels, 
some of the lurid imagery of Enoch the fanatic. 

You now know where to look for my Shemitic cradle. I 
am that Azazyel. Born and bred during the agitations and 
excitement immediately antecedent to the advent of Jesus, I 
passed into the Jewish mind of the age in which he taught, 
and so, through his Jewish disciples and biographers, who 
reported, not his true image, but an image of him which in a 
measure bore deep hues from their own apocalyptic prepos- 
sessions, I make my appearance in the language of him whose 
whole life was love, tenderness and sympathy, as if he had 
adopted the ideas as well as the diction of the infernal regions. 

Moreover, the book of Enoch has two different demonologies : 
one in the first part (vi. — xvi.), the other in the third (lvi. — 
lxviii.). There the chief of the demons is Azazyel; here that 
honour belongs to Samyaza. 

And here I might be excused were I to confess myself no 
little puzzled. I cannot be both Azazyel and Samyaza : which 
am I? Am I either ? Am I not rather a figment begotten of 
human conceits, deceits and legends'? 

You object to the term legend. Yet there is not a word 
in the Old Testament history which in the slightest makes 
allusion to " the fall of the angels," and which can in any way 
encourage the fancy that the love of the sons of God for the 



GROWTH OF ECCLESIASTICAL MYTHS. 



115 



daughters of men (which is only the Hebrew version of Livy's 
" Eape of the Sabines") was in itself a crime, big with tre- 
mendous destinies. 

It would be curious to trace in detail the different phases 
by which the few words in Genesis have by little and little 
passed into the long and ill-told story of the book of Enoch. 
Only one step of the transition remains. In the Bible, the 
giants are not the progeny of angels and women, as the fabu- 
lous Enoch pretends. Already, before the illicit union, giants 
were on the earth, according to the Hebrew. The matter un- 
dergoes a radical change in the Greek version of the Seventy. 
There the giants are the offspring of that marriage. Was this 
false translation occasioned by the Greek fable of the Titans, 
sons of heaven (the male principle) and (earth the female) % Did 
the translator fancy that the Hebrew story ivas the source or 
the analogue of the pagan myth? It is possible: but this is 
certain, namely, that the Greek perversion of the Hebrew text 
creates a pregnant doubt as to the authenticity of the marriages 
of the sons of God with the daughters of men. One step 
more, and it will be held that the angels defiled themselves by 
a wedlock unworthy of their sanctity. That step was set, and 
set probably by an ascetic party grouped around the temple 
of Leontopolis in Egypt. There, too, the book of Enoch was 
known, as well as the Jewish fragments of the Sibylline 
oracles and the fourth book of Ezra; all three works re- 
sembling each other greatly in ideas, tone and manner. Spe- 
cially have they in common all the ideas which are connected 
with the apocalyptic beliefs of the period, such as the theo- 
cratic point of view, the opposition of the wicked spirits to 
the triumph of the Messiah, and the doctrine of the resurrec- 
tion of the flesh, which, as you have seen, was born in the 
bosom of Parsism. 

During most of the time covered by this chapter, there grew 
up in the Jewish schools of Palestine a large body of oral 
tradition which, continued through centuries after Christ, was 
finally collected and published in what are called The Tal- 

i 2 



116 



MYTHS OF THE JEWISH CABBALA. 



muds. These are a huge and heterogeneous mass of theologi- 
cal and social decisions made by Jewish doctors or rabbis of 
eminence in an attempt to adapt the old law, called the law 
of Moses, to the changed condition of the Jewish people after 
the captivity in Babylon, the wars of the Maccabees, the 
paganizing influence of the Herods, and the conquest and 
destruction of Jerusalem by the Eomans, ending in the dis- 
persion of the nation in want, slavery, contempt and woe, over 
the civilized world. This series of trials, entailing general 
ruin, tended to throw over the Jewish character a depth of 
gloom which was disturbed rather than relieved by Messianic 
expectations. Between the lurid dreams of the latter and 
the dark and bitter experiences of the former, the national 
mind, driven to and fro by hope and fear, readily yielded to 
the Oriental fancies which seemed to explain the stern con- 
flict by the recognition of a bad principle as well as a good 
one. Indeed, since the atmosphere in which they lived con- 
stantly grew darker and darker, I soon obtained the ascendancy 
in their thoughts and affections. Hence you may find in the 
Talmudic literature a substantial and ramified demonology. 
That literature, considered as an accepted tradition to which the 
Jews attached the highest value, bears the name of Cabbala, 
which signifies at once a transmitted and a secret doctrine. 
Here you have not only a complete dualism, but a developed 
demonology, combined, as ever, with such black arts as the 
times were fitted to engender. The Cabbalists fill all the 
spaces of creation with good and bad spirits, divide them into 
distinct orders, place chiefs over them, distinguish the orders 
and their chiefs by individual names, and allot to them each 
his own office. The evil spirits are called Satanim, Shedim, 
Soirim, &e. As to their origin, the opinion of the Cabbalists 
vary. Some hold that God created them on the Friday even- 
ing, just before the end of the week of creation, but, as the 
Sabbath approached, he was unable to complete his work. 
On this account they could not attain to the perfection of 
the pure spirits, or be clothed with a body like that of men. 



FOUR FEMALE DEVILINGS IN THE CABBALA. 



117 



According to others, God created an angeling, by name Lilith, 
by whom Adam had numberless bad spirits. Other male 
and female demons were created besides those which fell 
after the creation. The principal male devil is Samael, who 
seduced Eve, continually leads human beings into evil, and 
is indeed Satan, or myself, who, performing the function 
ascribed to me in the book of Job, keeps the privy council 
of heaven informed of the misdeeds of men. Then there is 
Melach Hammareth, who executes the verdicts of death pro- 
nounced on high. Several Cabbalists name him also Azazel, 
the scapegoat ; moreover, Adam Belial, in contrast with Adam 
Cadmon, or the typal man ; Asrnodeus, too, whom we have 
seen in the book of Tobit (iii. 8) ; moreover, Bedargon, only 
a span long, and on that account provided with fifty heads 
and sixty-four eyes ; he bears imprinted on his body, as signi- 
ficant symbols, all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, except 
M and T, which denote death. According to the Cabbalistic 
doctrine, God created four female devilings : Lilith, who, 
under the name of Eve, appeared in being with Adam, who, 
however, separated from her on account of her bad temper; 
whereupon he married the real Eve, who had been formed 
out of one of his ribs. Lilith won Samael's affection, and 
became his wife. The two lived unhappily together, for she 
was always grumbling and nagging. The second was Xaaniah, 
the wife of a devil by name Shemeron. Of this marriage 
Asrnodeus was born. The third bore the name of Mashkith, 
of a lively temperament, the opposite of Lilith, and in con- 
sequence somewhat often at cross purposes with her. Lilith 
held sway over 480 troops of devils, Mashkith over 478. The 
fourth deviling, by name Iggereth, appears less frequently. 
According tu Babbi Solomon, Luria has an ugly trick of rush- 
ing out of hell every Wednesday and Friday night to infest 
human dwelling-places with her 1800 evil spirits, making the 
time perilous as w T ell as hideous. The number of evil spirits 
is incalculable. They swarm around every human being ; a 
thousand on his right hand, ten thousand on his left. Their 



118 NUMBER, NATURE AND MOVEMENT OF DEVILS, 

abode is a dark region under the moon. Their bodies, formed 
in the lowest parts of the earth, are of water, fire and air. 
They are divided into armies, each having a commander, 
whose orders they are bound to obey. Evil spirits pass in 
a moment from one end of the world to another, and, like 
angels, know beforehand what is to come to pass. They enjoy 
their meat and drink, and propagate their species after the 
manner of men. 

Secret doctrines, at first existing among the Jews alone 
orally, and communicated to none but the initiated, came in 
time to be consigned to writing, and the tendency to a sys- 
tematic form, called forth by the prevailing philosophy of 
Aristotle, took hold of the masters of the Cabbala, and led 
them to throw their conception into a certain order. The 
thirst for concealed wisdom led men to the fountains of the 
Cabbala, and after Aristotleism had run its race, and students 
began to turn to Alexandrinism, these found their own ideas 
in a Platonic Pythagorean form, and presented a cloud of 
mysteries to the human mind. Hence arose the black arts of 
astrology and alchemy, which in time gained the advocacy 
of such learned men as Bonaventura, Thomas Aquinas, Pay- 
mund Lullius, Pico clella Mirandula, John Eeuchlin, &c. As 
secret doctrines and magic are commonly yoke-fellows, the 
Cabbala set it forth as an axiom, that there is the closest con- 
nection between this world and the upper and lower regions, 
and that consequently the Cabbalistic adept had a command- 
ing influence in heaven and hell, which gave him not only 
general wisdom and power, but special control over witches 
and witchcraft. Indeed, with the aid of the Cabbala, the 
magician of the middle ages could not only keep me in order, 
but augment all kind of earthly good. A conviction to this 
effect struck deep roots into the heart of the people. Hence 
grew up and prevailed a host of falsities, which beset and 
worried poor mortals for centuries, such as belief in Satan, in 
witches and their commerce with devils, Satanic conjurations, 
magical covenants of friendship and enmity ; while by a reci- 



THE APOSTLE PAUL CONDEMNS DEMOXOLOGY. 



119 



procrated influence these superstitions encouraged belief in 
the Cabbalistic mysteries whence they had sprung. 

The further progress of these terrible evils will be traced 
by and by. 

Meanwhile you have now before you a pretty full picture of 
the thick and gross darkness into which, the religion of Jesus 
was born, and through which it had to struggle during the 
earlier centuries of its existence. TVell has Jesus himself 
described the condition of his Church in those ages when he 
said (to quote the version of Dean Alford), " If the light that is 
in thee be darkness, how dark is the darkness !" (Matt. vi. 23). 
Dark indeed, since those who should have been the light- 
bearers of the times had themselves been eclipsed by the 
clouds which, coming from foreign lands, covered the surface 
of the Church, 

Before I pass on to the Xew Testament evidence, I must 
briefly but distinctly notice some words which Paul addressed 
to Timothy and Titus. These I here set down : " Charge 
some that they teach no other doctrine (than that of Christ), 
neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which 
minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in 
faith; turning aside unto vain jangling, understanding neither 
what they say nor whereof they affirm" (1 Tim. i. 4 — 7). "Xow 
the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some will 
depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doc- 
trines of devils (demons) ; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having 
their conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Tim. iv. 1, 2), 
" doting about questions and strifes of words (vi. -4). Shun 
profane and vain babblings (2 Tim. ii. 16) of evil men and 
seducers, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. iii. 13) ; for 
there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, espe- 
cially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped" 
(Tit. i. 10, 11). 

This long and varied description tallies completely with 
the demonology which I have set before you in somewhat full 
particulars. If Paul has not, as he seems to have, a direct 



120 



THE TEACHINGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 



reference to those Oriental fictions which yon know to have 
infested Palestine, and in a measure other countries where the 
Gospel had been introduced, he uses language so nicely cha- 
racteristic of them and their espousers, as to comprehend not 
them only, but their spirit and aim, wherever and whenever 
manifested. And thus demonology of all kinds is condemned ; 
not only that of Paul's days, which, though substantial and 
multiform, was scarcely more than a shadow of what was to 
come, and what did come, before society had fairly got out of 
the middle ages. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
SECTION I. 

JUDE ; THE APOCALYPSE ; THE EFISTLE OF PETER ; THE EPISTLES OF PAUL ; 
THE EPISTLE OF JA3IES | THE BOOK OF ACTS. 

Before I open the venerated pages of the Xew Testament, 
I wish to take a look at myself as I am described by ecclesias- 
tical authorities. 

Here is one picture. It is the character given of me by a 
French pastor of high character and varied learning — more- 
over, holding the true faith according to — what 1 "Well, I 
hardly know what ; but certainly according to himself. Thus 
he speaks in the brief and modest Preface he has prefixed to 
his work :* 

" The author has judged it necessary, in a season of general 
doubt and disbelief, to put his readers into the right position 
in regard to the essential points of faith, by placing himself 

* " Dictionnaire BibTique Populaire, par Auguste Meylan, Pasteur dans 
TEglise libre du Canton de Vaud " 1 vol. 8vo. 1869. 



THE DEVILISM OF THE POPULAR CHURCHES 121 



under the authority of the Word of God. Setting out with 
the principle that all the books of the Bible are inspired and 
legitimately forn] part of the Sacred Canon, he has endea- 
voured to furnish varied information, drawn from good sources, 
and calculated to conduce to a right understanding of the 
Scripture." 

What then does Pastor Meylan say of me 1 I shall repro- 
duce what he says on "The Devil 55 and " The Demoniacs" 
as literally as I can. 

" Devil (calumniator, Matt. iv. 1), the chief of the rebel 
angels. He is also called Satan (a Hebrew word signifying 
adversary), demon, great dragon, old serpent, Beelzebub (Apoc. 
xii. 9, xx. 2 ; Luke viii. 29 ; Matt. xii. 24). At an un- 
known epoch God created millions of angels endued with the 
liberty of serving him or of revolting against him. One of 
them, elevated in dignity and very powerful, took the latter 
step. He drew into his revolt other angels, who became also 
his ministers, and who are called demons, evil spirits, unclean 
spirits, princes of darkness, &c. (John viii. 44 ; Jude 6 ; Mark 
ix. 34; Luke viii. 2 ; Mark vi. 7; Eph. vi. 12). The devil, 
wishing to usurp the throne of G od, founded a kingdom which 
he sought to aggrandize by trickery and lies. He succeeded 
by leading the first man into sin, wdio thereupon submitted to 
his deadly empire. He causes himself to be worshiped in the 
pagan idols, and exeites bad passions in human souls ; he has 
even succeeded in taking possession of certain persons and in 
tormenting them (Matt. xii. 24 ; Gen. iii. 2 • 2 Cor. xi. 3 ; 
Acts xxvi. 18 : Lev. xvii. 7 ; Ps. cvi. 37.; 1 Cor. x. 20 ; Apoc. 
ix. 20; Luke xiii. 16, xxii. 3, 31 ; Job ii. 7; Mark xvi. 9). 
After failing in his efforts against Jesus Christ, come to bruise 
his head, he ceaselessly attacks his disciples; roams around them 
like a roaring lion, and even performs miracles in order to seduce 
them (Matt. iv. 1 ; Gen. iii. 15 ; 1 Pet. v. 8 : 2 Thess. ii. 9). 
He still preserves relations with the angels that remain faithful, 
and also struggles against them (Job i . 6 ; 1 Kings xxii. 19 — 22 ; 
Zach. iii. 1 ; Jude 9 ; Apoc. xii. 7). However, the demons 



122 IS A HETEROGENEOUS 31 ASS OF PAGAN FABLE; 

tremble before God, dread the power of Jesus Christ and the 
fate which awaits them (James ii. 19; Mark i 24, v. 7; 
Luke viii 31). The devil will be bound and imprisoned in 
the abyss for a thousand years ; after that he will be let loose 
and will seduce men afresh (Apoc. xx. 1 — 9). Finally, he will 
be condemned, with all the demons, to eternal torments in 
hell (Matt, xxv. 41 ; Jude 6 ; Apoc. xx. 10). The doctrine 
of Scripture touching the rebel angels contains great mysteries 
and many obscurities for the narrow mind of man. But it 
would be so much the greater madness to contest its truth, see- 
ing that we are profoundly ignorant as to all that concerns the 
world of spirits, and since revelation is our only light in this 
domain." 

This, then, is the Satan of Protestant orthodoxy. As such 
it would, I believe, be received by most of the Protestant 
orthodox churches of the world. Do I own it as a true por- 
trait of myself? Certainly not ; its features are too imaginary, 
its hues too dark, its aspect too horrible, its bearing on God 
too unjust, and its bearing on man too baneful. The better 
side of human nature is totally absent from the portrait, and 
in consequence it is a caricature. Xone but such priests and 
tyrants as have ceased to be men, can be so black as is the 
monster here described as the devil. 

The authority I have just cited is very hard upon paganism, 
yet every feature that enters into his devil you have already 
had set before you as presented in some form of paganism or 
another, or if not in paganism, yet in debased and distorted 
religionisms. Specially have you just heard me particularize 
as a diseased brood of Jewish speculation the most revolting 
features of this orthodox devil. Review what I have said, and 
the truth of my statement will arise in your mind in clear light 
and full assurance. 

Consequently the whole is fable and not fact; figments of 
fancy, dreams of the imagination, rather than Biblical reve- 
lations. 

Here I might stop, and consider these views confuted by 



CONSEQUENTLY NOT SCRIPTURE TRUTH. 123 

the mere circumstance of pointing to their real source. Even 
were they ever so much *in Scripture, they would not be in- 
spired verities, seeing that, in germ and partly in fruit, they 
existed long before the passages to which the good French 
pastor refers had come into existence. That cannot be a 
Biblical revelation which was held by pagan minds whose 
religious opinions took life, shape and colour, in lands, ages 
and culture, remote from the Bible, its writers and its scenes. 
That some of the Biblical writings are here and there deeply 
tinted, or rather discoloured, by these offensive dyes is true ; 
but the dyes are foreign in their source, as well as darkening 
and pernicious in their effects. The only way in which any 
one could effectually fix the ecclesiastical Satan upon the 
Bible, would be by shewing that the conception necessarily 
arose from fundamental ideas of God as therein revealed. But 
what is the fact? Neither God as believed in by Abraham, 
nor God as believed in by Moses, nor God as believed in by 
Jesus, involves, implies, or even admits or tolerates, the sacer- 
dotal phantasm. 

And here the train of thought leads me to add, that well 
is it for man it does so, if the religion of Jesus is the greatest 
boon that God ever conferred on his favoured child of earth ; 
for the doctrine taught by Pastor Meylan is so huge a mountain 
of absurdity, as inevitably to sink any ordinary system with 
which it is connected, if not to imperil the pure Gospel itself. 
This our orthodox instuctor shews himself sensible of when, 
after setting forth his ecclesiastical fables, he tells us it contains 
" great mysteries and many obscurities." " Mysteries and ob- 
scurities" ? And yet he calls what he gives "instruction" 
( enseignment ), that is teachings considered as signs. ISow 
what are signs but symbols of things signified? And what 
are mysteries, as here used, but things you cannot apprehend 
because you cannot get hold of them? These signs, then, sig- 
nify nothing; for, being mysteries, they convey no sign or 
signification to man. What then is their use? " But they are 
not totally dark." What is the light that is in them ? Where 



124 MYSTERY NOT UNINTELLIGIBLE BUT UNREVEALED. 



is a spark of light in all your demonologyl And where does 
the light end and the darkness begin? You "know not," 
do you say] Truly do you speak, for with you a mystery is 
either something dark, or something unintelligible, or some- 
thing unreasonable — something therefore which has no mean- 
ing, or of which the meaning is absurd — not, as the word is 
used in the New Testament, something once hidden or un- 
known, but now under Christ disclosed to enlighten, direct, 
and so save the intelligent world. So much for " mystery." 
ISTow let our orthodox lexicographer say what " obscurities 1 ' 
are in this matter ; how the obscurity differs from the mystery ; 
and why, having obscurities to offer no less than mysteries, 
nay, " great mysteries" and "many obscurities," — why he 
undertook to handle the subject at all, much less to insert the 
article in a volume whose professed object is to illustrate the 
Bible and Biblical verities. Illustrate ! What is to illustrate 
(lux, Latin for light) but to throw light on a subject ? Well, 
then, here is a topic needing light, so great are its mysteries, 
so many its obscurities. What light is given? ]Sone other 
but that which (if any) lies in their own inherent quality of 
being mysteries and obscurities : and what is this but to leave 
the unknown unknown, and to leave the obscure obscure ? 
Well, it would be more candid to do so without pretending to 
explain the inexplicable and to clear up the obscure. Thus, 
rushing into the regions of darkness, the author first uses hard 
words and then doubles his difficulty. You must, he as good 
as says, be " a madman to contest what I say, for ' Ave ' (himself 
and others) are profoundly ignorant touching whatever con- 
cerns the world of spirits." If so, why attempt to teach any- 
thing about the subject ? " Profoundly ignorant" as he is, he 
would have acted less foolishly had he not uttered a word. 
But are we so ignorant by nature? When Jesus said, " God 
is spirit" (John iv. 24), and added no explanation, he implicitly 
taught, first, that none was needed, and that even an ordinary 
woman of Samaria understood what he meant. " Yes, but revela- 
tion is our o'nly torch in this domain." Not his only torch \ for 



THE BIBLE A HETEROGENEOUS UNIT. 



12.7 



whatever light he has comes primarily from pagan sources ; 
and after all a torch sheds light, not darkness ; and the light 
which the torch of Scripture sheds does not surely consist 
in " great mysteries and many obscurities ;" or, if it does, 
then where mystery and obscurity begin, there revelation, 
which means unveiling, of necessity ends. 

However, this respectable pastor asserts that Scripture 
teaches the views which he expounds, and as he gives his 
references to certain passages where his doctrine is taught, 
I am in courtesy bound to turn to his authorities. And here 
at the first glance I discover a huge mistake. He throws toge- 
ther, as supporting his system, passages taken from many parts 
of the Bible, beginning with Genesis and terminating with 
the Apocalyps? ; — as if the Bible were one book, whereas it 
consists of many books ; as if it were from one pen, whereas 
it was written by many pens ; as if it were produced in one 
age, whereas it took at least a thousand years to come into 
existence ; as if, moreover, it offered one sole form of religion, 
whereas it offers one religion under many forms ; and as if it 
came from the mind of God, as Minerva is said to have leaped 
from the head of Jupiter in rebound to the sledge-hammer 
blow from the hand of Yulcan, whereas no less an authority 
than Jesus declares and avows a fulfilment, that is, a develop- 
ment, a gradual unfolding and expansion of religious light as 
men's minds are able to bear it (Mark i. 15 ; Matt. v.). By 
thus heaping texts together, without reference to their contexts, 
on any given point ; while thus selecting here and there, 
any and every where, words which seem to witness for certain 
preconceived ideas or elaborated systems, the author of the 
Dictionary may prove, or even disprove, almost everything he 
pleases, and can produce nothing better than an incongruous 
and uncoalescing medley or collection of fossil miscellanies. 
This is not an unapt description of what he has achieved. 
His article descriptive of myself describes nothing in God's 
world of realities, for the heterogeneousness of his essay is 



126 



PASTOR MEYLAXS SCRIPTURAL PROOFS 



such as to exclude all reality. Horace condemns a painter who, 
drawing the figure of a woman down to the waist, completes his 
portrait by ending with the tail of a fish. M. Meylan throws 
into what he calls a likeness of me, features and limbs taken 
from all manner of mythological monsters, joined and united 
together into the most disparate and unsightly of figments by 
a certain cement borrowed from an assumed Biblical authority. 

I cast my eye upon his statements in respect of the scrip- 
tural passages by which the lexicographer supports them. 
TThat do I find I For the propositions which underlie his 
entire system of demonology he gives no scriptural authority 
whatever. Thus he calls me " the chief or head of the rebel 
angels," and does so without any scriptural reference. Then 
he makes a series of statements equally without scriptural 
reference. These are : 1, God created millions of angels : 2. 
this he did at an unknown epoch ; 3, these angels were en- 
dowed with liberty to serve or to revolt against him : 4, one 
of them took the latter part : 5, he was elevated in dignity 
and very powerful : 6, he drew into his revolt other augels : 
7, those angels became his ministers. Here are seven propo- 
sitions for which no scriptural attestation is assigned. Of course, 
as none is given, none can be given. And yet you are re- 
quired to admit the whole fabric, though " it contains great 
mysteries and many obscurities/' on the authority of Scrip- 
ture. Here, then, is an admission that the authority of Scrip- 
ture is necessary in the case. But these seven propositions 
have no scriptural authority. It follows that they are desti- 
tute of the needful attestation. Consequently they are not 
proved; and, as not proved, are to the Biblical student untrue 
— as much a vain thing, a nothing, as the jjagan idols. 

But these propositions are the foundation of the edifice. 
The edifice then has no foundation. Built upon the pagan 
fable of " the fallen angels," the alleged Satanism is no scrip- 
tural doctrine at all. A kingdom without a king is no king- 
dom ; so a demonology without me is a mere creature of the 



DO NOT PRESENT SATAN AS A REALITY. 



127 



imagination, or a product of obscure speculation ; in a word, 
a fiction of man's, and not a fact of God's world. You are 
already acquainted with its history. 

The position T have thus taken up is unassailable. It follows 
that the cause is pleaded, and nothing remains but the verdict. 
The verdict is, that Pastor Meylan has put himself out of 
court by lack of evidence. Not Proven must be entered on 
the record, as much in this case as it would be required in 
any law-suit in which the defendant was not presented in 
court because he was not known to exist. " Shew us your fallen 
angel on the authority you yourself have chosen, and then 
we will hear what you have to say about him."' Such would 
be the decision of every "just judge." To proceed in this 
matter, then, is supererogatory. Nevertheless, as I wish to 
satisfy your youthful mind, I will give myself this unnecessary 
trouble. 

Before I leave this point, I must indicate other proposi- 
tions for which no evidence is adduced : 1, the devil's rebel- 
lion arose from his wishing to usurp God's throne ■ 2, he 
founded a kingdom : 3, this kingdom he aggrandizes by craft 
and lies ; 4, he made man sin : 5, man was then subject to 
his power ; 6, he causes himself to be worshiped under the 
veil of the heathen idols ; 7, he failed in his efforts against 
Jesus Christ, Seven other propositions, which ought to be, 
and are not, supported by Scripture ! TThat a flimsy struc- 
ture have we here ! And is this the grim phantom that 
terrifies the world ? How long ? And in this way are creeds 
made, which must be believed on the penalty of perishing 
everlastingly ! 

If now I analyze the scriptures which M. Meylan adduces, 
I shall be able to set before you the proofs in favour of a 
personal devil in their distributive order and their united 
force. The total number of passages is 42. Of these, 9 are 
in the Old Testament and 33 in the Xew. The 33 are 
divided thus : 9 in the Epistles, that is, in Paul 4, in Jude 3, 
in Peter 1, in James 1:17 in the Gospels, that is, in Mat- 



128 WHAT DOES THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACH AS TO SATANISM ? 

thew 6, in Mark 4, in Luke 6, in John 1 ; in the Apoca- 
lypse 6 \ and in the book of Acts 1. From the 33 in the 
New Testament some reductions will have to be made in con- 
sequence of reference to the same passage being repeated. 

Out of the 33 ~New Testament references, 3 are in Jude 
and 6 in the book of Revelation, in all 9 taken from the least 
historically reliable pages in the later Scriptures. Properly 
only two references are made to Jude, for verse 6 is adduced 
twice. Now Jude is no Scripture at all ; that is, it is unca- 
nonical. These two references then go for nothing. This is 
decided before you have looked at them. But I will set them 
before your eyes in full. Verse 6 : " The angels which kept 
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he (the 
Lord) hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness 
unto the judgment of the great day." . . . Ver. 9 : " Michael 
the archangel, when contending with the devil, disputed about 
the body of Moses." 

The former of these passages is simply borrowed from fables, 
the source and nature of which I have already explained. 
The latter is adduced to prove this statement : " The devil 
still preserves relations with the angels that remained faithful, 
and struggles against them." As to the relations which I 
still preserve with Michael, I take leave to say that the text 
refers to a time sunk in the dark bosom of 1800 years. A 
curious proof indeed of what my relations are " still" ! Then 
as to my struggling against Michael, I beg you to observe, 
the text declares that it is Michael that struggles against me. 
This looks very much like trilling with evidence. What a 
cause must that be which needs and employs means so 
unworthy of the importance of the theme, the everlasting 
destinies which it involves, and the true dignity of Scripture ! 
Strange that what men call a sacred book should now, " in 
the year of grace," 1871, be disfigured and desecrated by for- 
geries so palpable ! Will the men who are now sitting as 
ecclesiastical revisers of the Authorized English Version have 
honesty and courage enough to remove this blot from the 



BISHOP MARSH DISALLOWS THE EPISTLE OF JUDE, L29 

Bible 1 Undoubtedly they will do something to that effect 
if they are possessed of the spirit of Dr. Marsh, formerly 
Bishop of Peterborough, who in his chapter on " the Epistle 
of Jude" in his English translation of Professor Michaelis's 
learned "Introduction to the Xew Testament*' (Vol. IV. 
p. 363), makes the following remark bearing on this testimony 
to my personal existence : " I cannot acknowledge that this 
Epistle is canonical. And I have really some doubts whether 
it be not even a forgery, made in the name of Jude, by some 
person who borrowed the chief part of his materials from the 
Second Epistle of St. Peter, and added some few of his own.". . . 
" And if we are directed in our judgment by the conrents of 
the Epistle, we shall have still no inducement to believe that 
it is a sacred and divine work." ..." But it is much more 
difficult to vindicate the ninth verse, in which the archangel 
Michael is said to have disputed with the devil about the 
body of Moses. The whole history of this dispute, which has 
the appearance of a Jewish fable, is not very easy at present to 
discover, because the book from which it is supposed to have 
been taken by the author of our Epistle is no longer extant ; 
but I will here put together such scattered accounts of it as I 
have been able to collect. Origen found in a Jewish Greek 
book, called ' The Assumption of Moses,' which was extant 
in his time, though it is now lost, this very story related con- 
cerning the dispute of the archangel Michael with the devil 
about the body of Moses. And from a comparison of the 
relation in this book with St. Jude's quotation, he was tho- 
roughly persuaded that it was the book from which St. Jude 
quoted. This he asserts without the least hesitation ; and 
in consequence of this persuasion he himself has quoted the 
f Assumption of Moses ' as a work of authority, in proof of 
the temptation of Adam and Eve by the devil. But as he 
has quoted it merely for this purpose, he has given us only an 
imperfect account of what this book contained relative to the 
dispute about the body of Moses. One circumstance, how- 
ever, he has mentioned, which is not found in the Epistle uf 

K 



130 



WHOSE ORIGIN IS FABLE. 



St. Jude, namely, that Michael reproached the devil with 
having possessed the serpent which seduced Eve. In what 
manner this circumstance is connected with the dispute about 
the body of Moses will appear from the following considera- 
tion. The Jews imagined that the person of Moses was so 
holy that God could find no reason for permitting him to die, 
and that nothing but the sin committed by Adam and Eve in 
Paradise, which brought death into the world, was the cause 
why Moses did not live for ever. The same notions they 
entertained of some other very holy persons — for instance, of 
Isai, who, they say, was delivered to the angel of death merely 
on account of the sins of our first parents, though he himself 
did not deserve to die. Now in the dispute between Michael 
and the devil, the devil was the accuser and demanded the death 
of Moses. Michael therefore replied to him, that he himself 
was the cause of that sin which alone could occasion the death 
of Moses. How very little such notions as these agree either 
with the Christian theology, or with Moses' own writings, it is 
unnecessary for me to declare." 

How far in irreverence those old fabulists proceeded, and 
how little any word of theirs touching me deserves credence, 
may be learnt from another version of this forgery which 
Bishop Marsh reports in the same connection as found by him 
in another Jewish figment, the "Phetirah Moshe." The sub- 
stance of the story related in this book, as far as concerns the 
present inquiry, is as follows. " Moses requests of God, under 
various pretences, either that he may not die at all, or at least 
that he may not die before he comes into Palestine. This 
request he makes in so forward and petulant a manner, as is 
highly unbecoming not only a great prophet, but even any 
man. God argues, on the contrary, with great patience and 
forbearance, and replies to what Moses had alleged to the merit 
of his own good works. Further, it is God who says to Moses 
that he must die on account of the sin of Adam ; to which 
Moses answers, that he ought to be excepted because he was 
superior in merit to Adam, Abraham, Isaac, &c. In the mean 



MOSES IN CONFLICT WITH GOD. 131 

time Samael, that is the angel of death, whom the Jews de- 
scribe as the chief of the devils, rejoices at the approaching 
death of Moses. This is observed by Michael, who says to 
him, 'Thou wicked wretch, I grieve and thou laughest.' 
Moses, after his request had been repeatedly refused, invokes 
heaven and earth, and all creatures around him, to intercede 
in his behalf. Joshua attempts to pray for him ; but the 
devil stops Joshua's mouth, and represents to him the impro- 
priety of such a prayer. The elders of the people, and with 
them all the children of Israel, then offer to intercede for 
Moses ; but their mouths are likewise stopped by a million, 
eight hundred and forty thousand devils, which, on a mode- 
rate calculation, makes three devils to one man. After this, 
God commands the angel Gabriel to fetch the soul of Moses ; 
but Gabriel excuses himself, saying that Moses was too strong 
for him. Michael receives the same order, and excuses him- 
self in the same manner, or, as other accounts say, under pre- 
tence that he had been the instructor of Moses, and therefore 
could not bear to see him die. But this last excuse, according 
to the Phetirah Moshe, was made by Zinghiel, the third angel 
who received this command. Samael, that is, the devil, then 
offers his services ; but God asks him how he would take hold 
of Moses, whether by his mouth, or by his hands, or by his 
feet, saying that every part of Moses w T as too holy for him to 
touch. The devil, however, insists on bringing the soul of 
Moses ; yet he does not accuse him ; for, on the contrary, he 
prizes him higher than Abraham, Isaac and J acob. The devil 
then approaches toward Moses to execute this voluntary com- 
mission ; but as soon as he sees the shining countenance of 
Moses, he is seized with a violent pain, like that of a woman in 
labour. Moses, instead of using the Oriental salutation, 4 Peace 
be with thee,' says to him, in the w r ords of Isaiah (lvii. 21), 
' There is no peace to the wicked.' The devil replies, that he 
was come by the order of God to fetch his soul ; but Moses 
deters him from the attempt by representing his own strength 
and holiness, and saying, 6 Go, thou wicked wretch ; I will not 

k 2 



132 



HOW MYTHS GROW UP. 



give thee my soul.' He affrights the devil in such a manner 
that he immediately returns. The devil then returns to God 
and relates what had passed, and receives an order to go a 
second time. The devil answers that he would go everywhere 
God commanded him. even into hell and into fire, but not to 
Moses. This remonstrance, however, is of no avail, and he is 
obliged to go back again. But Moses, who sees him coming 
with a drawn sword, meets him with his miraculous rod, and 
gives him so severe a blow with it, that the devil is glad to 
escape. Lastly, God himself comes ; and Moses, having then 
no further hopes, requests only that his soul may not be taken 
out of his body by the devil. This request is granted him. 
Zinghiel, Gabriel and Michael then lay him on a bed ; and 
the soul of Moses begins to dispute with God, and objects to 
its being taken out of a body which was so pure and holy that 
no fly dared settle on it. But God kisses Moses, and with a 
kiss extracts his soul from his body. Upon this God utters 
a heavy lamentation ; and thus the story in the Phetirah 
Moshe ends, without any mention of a dispute about the burial 
of Moses' s body." ..." From the account which has been 
given, it appears that we have very little reason for placing 
the Epistle of St. Jude among the sacred writings." 

The particulars that I have borrowed from the Bishop of 
Peterborough may serve the purpose of aiding you, my atten- 
tive listener, to understand how religious myths grow up, and 
how it is that, agreeing in substance, they often in the case of 
each pair or more of versions differ in particulars ; and this 
knowledge is the more important to you, as you can hardly 
understand how I so soon and so easily passed out of a dark 
shadow of fancy into a personal monster, unless you are ac- 
quainted with the social and religious media which contributed 
to the transmutation. 

Six references are made to the Apocalypse, as if the Apoca- 
lypse were a history, and not a series of visions and pictures, 
and as if the history contained a forecast of the history of the 
ChiiTcfi and the world ; whereas it expressly declares that it 



THE APOCALYPSE A VISION OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. 133 



pertains to things then " shortly to come to pass/' the whole 
horizon of which is bounded by the reign of the beast, that is 
the emperor Xero (A.D. 54 — 67). 

The references, taken in their natural order, stand thus : 
ix. 20, xii. 7, xii. 9, xx. 1 — 9, xx. 2, xx. 10. 

The thesis which ix. 20 is brought to sustain is, "He (the 
devil) causes himself to be worshiped under the veil of idols, 
and excites bad passions in mens souls ; and he has even 
succeeded in corporally seizing certain persons and in torment- 
ing them." 

As to the worship of myself under the veil of idols, it is 
now known and acknowledged by all competent judges, that 
the alleged fact is but a supposition, a baseless theory held 
before and after the introduction of Christianity. The igno- 
rance here displayed by the author argues ill for his suffi- 
ciency for the duty he has taken on himself. Xo longer can 
the calumny shew its face in cultivated circles, for one of the 
deductions of the history and the philosophy of religion made 
during the last hundred years on the most solid basis, is this, 
namely, that the divinities of paganism were not poetical or 
mythological fictions, but the least imperfect views of God that 
nations in their infancy could attain and hold ; and if God 
himself compassionately shut his eyes in presence of this igno- 
rance (Acts xvii. 22, seq.), it ill becomes Christian divines, 
whose conception of God is in these latter ages full, to say the 
least, of incongruities, to throw their shortsightedness in the 
teeth of Eomans and Greeks, the authors or the transmitters 
of Western culture. For what concerns me in this matter, I 
well know, whatever aspersions bigotry may cast on me or 
my worshipers, that the Gentiles in their divine services never 
meant to adore me, but to adore the only living and true 
God. They mostly missed their mark, it is true ; but even 
in failing they learnt to shoot, and so in time were brought 
over to worship the God and Father of the Lord J esus Christ. 
Turning now to the passage of Scripture in Apocalypse ix. 20, 
T find it in no way relates to what I do, or did, but what 



13-i THE APOCALYPTIC SCENES NOT EEALITIES, BUT SYMBOLS, 

others did who were given to " the worship of devils and idols 
of gold and silver, and brass and stone, and of wood, which 
neither can see, nor hear, nor walk." Why, what have we 
here bnt the derogatory and insulting hypothesis I have just 
laid bare I Possibly the seer of the Apocalypse believed this 
falsity, so thick and angry was the cloud that lay on the 
Judeo-Christian mind of the early part of the first century. 
Is one the less is this theory now exploded. Indeed, who in 
these days can believe that in general the worshipers of Jupiter, 
Juno, Mars and others, were consciously aware, in the hour 
of their adoration, that the objects they revered were really 
not gods, but devils ? Such a consciousness would have extin- 
guished their adoration, and lifted the worshipers from their 
knees to stand erect in the offended dignity of intelligent and 
moral beings. Vile men will indeed worship what is vile ; 
but of old such depravity was as exceptional as it is to-day. 

The next passage (xii. 7 — 9) runs thus : " And there was 
war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought against the 
dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels \ and prevailed 
not ; neither was their place found any more in heaven ; and 
the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the 
devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world ; he was 
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with 
him." 

There is here one departure from the old legend of the war 
and ejection of the angels. They are ordinarily hurled down 
to hell ; here, however, they fall no lower than the earth. The 
diversity might justify a doubt whether they fell at all ; in 
other words, whether we have here to do with fact or fancy. 
The suspicion thus raised will become a conviction if you 
study this little-understood composition, which consists, after 
a prelude and before an epilogue, of a series of grand and 
imposing pictures, descriptive, not of what took place before 
or immediately after creation, but what was being done and 
acted then before the seers eyes, there on earth, in the great 
conflict which raged between pagan tyranny and persecution 



CONFLICT OF THE CHURCH WITH THE RULING POWERS. 135 

on the one side, and the young and tender Church of Christ 
on the other. In this sublime panorama all the names repre- 
sent not persons, but powers. They are the gigantic figures 
on the canvas, which describe and denote the several forces 
w T hich in this great and supreme crisis of the infant Church 
fight against God, Christ and man. Thus they fight, but 
they fight in vain; for immediately after the last cited words 
a paean of victory is sung in these exulting terms : " Now is 
come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, 
and the power of his Christ ; for the accuser of our brethren 
is cast down, which accused them before God day and night. 
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the 
word of their testimony ; and they loved not their lives unto 
the death. Therefore, rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in 
them. 5 ' 

One stroke of reality in these pictorial scenes brings our 
feet at once on to the firm set earth of fact and history in the 
middle of that first century of our era. The stroke of reality 
is, " They loved not their lives unto the death." Yes ; it 
is a bitter and deadly persecution which is here intended 
and described. It is the massacre which Nero perpetrated 
on the early Christians when, after fiddling over the flames 
of the burning city of Rome kindled by himself, he com- 
mitted the unparalleled atrocity of doing his utmost to throw 
the ignominy of his deed on the already over-weighted and 
cruelly tormented shoulders of the comparatively few dis- 
ciples of Jesus that met perhaps in the catacombs to worship 
God, as bidden and encouraged by Christ. In view of fero- 
city and impiety such as this, no wonder the indignant seer 
heaped on the tyrant's head all the terrific epithets that the 
burning Muse of successive apocalyptic prophets had put into 
circulation, in order to brand the enemies of God and man. 
And these very epithets which simple-minded men now take 
as denoting veritable persons, those angels, those devils, were 
adopted for the very purpose of striking the foe without, in 



136 NERO THE APOCALYPTIC " BEAST." 

naming him expressly, giving him an opportunity of wreaking 
his terrible vengeance on his suffering and indignant assailants. 
No, it was more than their lives were worth to call Nero, 
their diabolical persecutor, Nero ; but they could denounce 
him, and denounce him so as to be understood by their mal- 
treated fellow-believers, who had the key to the imagery set 
in motion ; they could and they did denounce the emperor, 
whose name in Hebrew letters makes up the number of the 
beast, viz., 666, as "the great dragon, that old serpent, called 
the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole w T orld." 

Thus once more the house that was built on the sand sinks 
and falls to ruin. Very strange it is that an edifice so com- 
promising to God and so pernicious to man should have ever 
been erected on so perishable a basis ; but still more strange 
that at this time of day theologians and professors of Chris- 
tianity should be found ignorant enough, or enough diseased 
in mind, to render what they consider systematic support to a 
whole system of fable, which, being taken as a constituent of 
the gospel, is daily and hourly dragging the bark of Peter 
down beneath the surface and on toward the depths of the 
ocean. 

The apocalyptic tragedy is brought to a close in the remain- 
ing references to the book of Revelation; namely, xx. 1—9, 
xx. 2, xx. 10. The same thought that I have already ex- 
pounded is continued and completed here. What has been 
said of the earlier acts of the drama holds good of the last act. 

Only I must guard you, my young friend, against a possible 
mistake. To all appearance, the references just repeated are 
three distinct authorities, and as such they wear an imposing 
aspect, at least to the uninitiated. In reality they are but 
one — one text, namely, xx. 1 — 10, in three forms. This is 
an effectual way of making a little do the work of much. 

A more important fact is this, that there is an appendix at 
the encl of the drama, not unlike what is occasionally found 
in the explanatory epilogues of old English plays. This ap- 



THE DRAMA ENDS WITH "NO MORE CURSE." 137 

pendix describes, as the final triumph of the kingdom of God 
and Christ, so the final condition of the moral universe. Only 
for a few words can I find room for what scarcely apper- 
tains to my history ; and yet, seeing that it is its natural, nay 
its inevitable, sequel and permanent result, I. cannot feel alto- 
gether disconnected with it. 

" And I saw " (the seer of the Apocalypse is the speaker, 
xxi.) — "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the 
first heaven and the first earth were passed away. And I 
John saw the holy city, Xew Jerusalem, coming down from 
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band; and I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold 
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with 
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be 
their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former 
things are passed away. But there is a pure river of water 
of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God 
and of the Lamb, and on either side of the river the tree of 
life bearing fruits for the healing of the nations : and there 

SHALL BE NO MORE CURSE !" 

" No more curse" means, no more sin and no more devil. I 
am unutterably happy at seeing myself thus extinguished by 
New Testament authority. The ideal is delightful, if its realiza- 
tion is remote ; but the certainty of its fulfilment is guaranteed 
by the great principles, aims and tendencies of the religion of 
Jesus ; for its paternal Deity cannot accomplish his designs 
without delivering the human race from iniquity and super- 
stition. These evils at an end, my reign is over. 

I resume the specific consideration of the passages of Scrip- 
ture brought forward by M. Meylan. Let us see what he 
adduces from the letter ascribed to the apostle Petei\ yet not 
without grounds of doubt. 

" Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as 



138 THE APOSTLE PETER DOES NOT PROVE A PERSONAL DEVIL, 

a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour 7 ' 
(1 Pet. v. 8). 

This passage our authority takes literally. Manifestly, what- 
ever the apostle intends, he here employs a figure. Were I 
to walk about in the shape of an actual lion seeking my prey, 
I should find no mortal so silly as to be caught by me. I 
might terrify ; I could not entrap. And so the literal sense is 
untenable, inasmuch as it would rob me of the very power 
which the clerical theory invests me with. It is indeed 
little, if at all, better than an assumption that a particular 
person is here intended. Instead of devil, understood as re- 
ferring to me, the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, a superior scholar 
and an enlightened divine, has in his excellent translation of 
the Xew Testament, " your slanderous adversary," thus ex- 
pressing the two epithets, " your adversary the devil," in a 
single phrase. To the same effect is the translation given by 
the " Improved Version," namely, " your adversary, the false 
accuser," thus wisely regarding the term 6 haftoXoc as a de- 
scriptive and not a personal noun. And beyond a doubt this 
is what Peter meant. Obviously he wrote the letter in order 
to put the Jews of the dispersion in Asia Minor on their 
guard against a terrible persecution. The letter is full of 
allusions and advice to this effect. Eead the whole, and you 
will not fail to see that the apostle had no reference to " the 
chief of the fallen angels," but to some human foe who em- 
ployed calumny as a means of ensnaring and destroying his 
victims. 

Pastor Meylan in the same connection declares that I even 
perform miracles in order to seduce my victims. If I perform 
miracles, I do so either with or without the Almighty. If 
with the Almighty, he performs the miracle, not I, who am 
but an instrument in his hand. If without him, then, if I 
am not the Almighty, I share his power, and so sharing his 
power take from him Ms almightiness. In other words, I 
dethrone God, which means that I am God rather than he. 



SATANIC MIRACLES INVOLVE UNIVERSAL RUIN. 



139 



Such are the conclusions to which these theological figments 
inevitably lead. How can those who minister at the altar thus 
desecrate the altar at which they minister ? 

And now mark the extent of the power and dominion with 
which these absurdities invest me. The correlation and gene- 
ral equilibrium of forces in the universe involve the fact, that 
a note touched here has its vibrations everywhere ; conse- 
quently a discord produced in Palestine reverberates through- 
out the universe. This declares that the rupture of one of 
God's laws is the rupture of all. But what, as ordinarily 
understood, is a miracle ? TVhat but a rupture of some law 
of God ? If then I work a miracle, I, in breaking one physi- 
cal law, set all the physical laws in clash and clang. But a 
universe in clash and clang is a universe in ruins. I then 
have the power to cast all things into chaos. For order I 
can introduce disorder ; beauty I can replace by deformity. 
Xay, I have done so. I did so when Jesus in Palestine with- 
stood me. I do so every day. Verily, I am a wonder-worker 
indeed ; for over and over again have I reduced the universe 
to confusion, and that without taking the trouble to piece 
together the fragments of one blow before I proceed to ano- 
ther. These are miracles — miracles greater than any wrought 
by Jesus, for I break the broken, as if broken it had never 
been. 

A truce to such absurdities ! And I check myself, re- 
membering that Tertullian, that redoubtable Latin Father of 
the second century, who delighted in theological parodoxes, 
believed, and taught others to believe, what was unbelievable, 
on the very ground that unbelievable it was. I quote his 
words in a literate version : 

" £ The Son of God died it is credible because it is absurd : 
' the Son of God was buried and rose again it is certain 
because it is impossible !" 

The worst of this very bad instance remains to be men- 
tioned. The miracles, our authority declares — the miracles 



uo 



TERTULLIAN DEMANDS BLIXD BELIEF. 



I perform, I perform for the purpose of seducing souls. Take 
the whole, then, as a whole, and it comes to this, that God 
through me sets the physical universe in irretrievable con- 
fusion, in order to confound and stultify the moral universe. 
After this, nothing more needs be said to expose the awful 
impiety involved in the supernatural, or rather preternatural, 
agency ascribed to me. And here you have an instance of 
the way in which one falsity is often intensified by another. 
When miracles are ascribed to me, and when by miracles is 
meant an interruption of the laws of nature, then ensue the 
fearful consequences I have just described. But such an in- 
terruption is the essence of miracle, according to the common 
view. I am not going out of my path to correct theological errors 
in general, but I must caution you against the common mis- 
conception of miracle. Miracle, as usually understood, is the 
very impossibility that Tertullian contemplated ; for impos- 
sible is it for God to break his own laws. This would be 
nothing short of God warring against God. Whatever Jesus 
was or did, that was he and that did he in complete unison 
with the Divine will, which is the Divine law. 

I have dealt with M. Meylan's evidence from one apostle. I 
turn to that which he adduces from another. Four references 
are made to the writings of the apostle Paul, and first the words 
in 2 Thessalonians ii. 9. Turn to the passage, and you will be 
easily able to verify my allegations. The apostle speaks here 
(1 — 9) of some false interpretation of the second coming of 
Christ, by which members of the church at Thessalonica had 
been troubled and misled (1 — 3). Consequently we have to 
do with, not an everlasting truth, but an error of the day, a 
misconception which the writer proceeds to correct. In order 
to do so, he declares that before Christ comes, " the man of 
sin," " the son of perdition," who even assumes the functions 
of God and is worshiped, must be manifested, and not only 
manifested, but destroyed. The manifestation of this " mys- 
tery of iniquity" is for a time delayed. When the delay 



THE TRUE ANTICHRIST. 



141 



ceases, tlie wicked one will appear. His coming is Satanical, 
being accompanied with " unreal power, and signs, and won- 
ders."* 

Here is a clear description of Antichrist. Antichrist is 
imperial Eome, the great foe and assailant ( u he who opposeth," 
literally the opponent ) of the Gospel. His personality is pru- 
dently concealed under the designation of a mystery, "the 
mystery of iniquity." When, however, he does make his 
appearance, it will be " after the working of Satan, that is, 
with all lying power and signs and wonders." In other words, 
the great persecution on the part of some advisedly unnamed 
Eoman emperor which must precede the second coming of 
Christ, and to which that coming will put at end, will be 
accompanied with power, signs and wonders, which have their 
source and their support in deception. What then postpones 
the coming of Antichrist ? The cause is represented as a 
person, 6 Kariyiov^ the re-strainer (7). By this phrase the em- 
peror Claudius, Nero's predecessor, is intended. Accordingly 
the passage, taken as a whole, is to this effect : " Be not dis- 
turbed, as if the coming of Christ were immediate. Before 
that event, there will be a sanguinary persecution of the 
Church which will occasion apostasy. The dire assailant, as I 
have intimated, is imperial Borne. For a time that iniquitous 
power is restrained. When that restraint is withdrawn, the 
lion will break loose and rage far and wide. His raging will 
be short, for his power is unreal. Then will the power of God 
in Christ appear and destroy the ravager." You have, then, in 
the passage in manifest features, 1st, " the man of sin," the 
Antichrist of the Apocalypse ; 2nd, he by whom the man of 
sin is curbed, the reigning emperor ; 3rd, the persecuted 
Church ; and 4th, the Lord Jesus. M. Jleylan puts in the 

* Professor Noyes renders the original of these words thus : 1 ' with all 
power and signs, and wonders of falsehood ;" where the quality falsehood is 
meant to apply to power, signs and wonders. This view is supported by 
Meyer and De Wette. 



142 



a THE MAN OF SIN." 



claims of Satan. To Satan no act is ascribed. "After the 
working" (or according to the ojieration) of Satan, is a peri- 
phrastical adverb, signifying Satanically, and that Satanically 
is forthwith explained by the words, " with all unreal power 
and signs and wonders." You thus see that in substance this 
passage of Scripture describes the great and ever-enduring 
conflict that proceeds between God, Christ, and the foes of 
man — sin and delusion, controlled and impelled by the policy 
of civil despotism. 

I deny, then, that the apostle introduces me here as a person 
at all. He does mention my name, but allusively alone. He 
does mention my name, but not so as to shew that he believed 
in my existence. His language may intimate that my name 
was current as symbolical of the false, the unreal, the perish- 
able. But this is all that it necessarily implies. And this 
is in complete agreement with my averment, namely, that 
the language of the day was coloured and darkened by Oriental 
demon ology. 

The man of sin is characterized by the usurpation of divine 
honours. The emperors of Eome, in the middle of the first 
century, took the title of divine, and were even called gods. 
As such they were worshiped. But the disciples of Christ, who 
worshiped God alone, could not and would not worship them. 
Hence to worship them became a test and proof of being a 
Christian. When, then, a person was brought before the Konian 
tribunals, charged with the crime of believing in Christ, this 
test was applied to him : " Sacrifice," said the Proconsul, 
" sacrifice to Caesar. You hesitate 1 You have only to throw 
a little frankincense upon the altar that stands there beneath 
his bust : sacrifice, I bid you, sacrifice to Hero Caesar. You 
will not ? Then, lictor, do your duty ; this is one of the 
sect of Christians." Such in effect was the scene which at 
the time that the letter was written was being enacted in the 
more civilized parts of the Eoman empire. This, " the man 
of sin," is further described as acting Satanically by means of 
misrepresentation and imposture. Here, again, some imme- 



ANTICHRIST SUPPORTED BY FRAUD AND DELUSION. 143 

diate operation is alluded to. The context suggests that it is 
the delusion by which the Thessalonians had been misled and 
troubled. This delusion had apparently been put forwards by 
agents of the " man of sin," that is, by the civil government 
of Thessalonica. Nor was that power incapable of deception. 
Indeed, it was supported in its opposition to Christ by jugglery. 
No sooner had Christianity stept forth into the world, than it 
was encountered by a combination of all manner of falsities. 
The oracles, struck dumb with fear, made spasmodic exertions 
to extinguish the new light which they dreaded. Dealers in 
the black arts of magic, witchcraft, divination, &c, seeing 
that their craft was in danger, hastened to array their forces 
against the common foe, whom they instinctively recognized 
in the Christian Church. Never in the ancient world were 
the cultivators of pretended science more numerous or more 
active on their own behalf than they were in the Eoman 
empire immediately after the establishment of the Church. 
And the pagan priests, conscious of their intrinsic weakness 
and alarmed for the safety of their system, encouraged moun- 
tebanks whom they should have been the foremost to expose 
and put down. Nor was even imperial Eome unwilling to bolster 
up its authority by the aid of arts and practices which it knew 
to be false and deceptive, but which it also found to be useful. 
With this " mystery of iniquity " Paul was familiar. He 
encountered it on his missionary travels in Elymas, the ma- 
gician who tried to turn away from the faith the proconsul 
Sergius Paulus, whose heart was moved toward the gospel 
(Acts xiii. 6, seq.). 

Not long after, the apostle came into collision with it in the 
neighbourhood of Thessalonica, when it appeared in "a certain 
damsel possessed with a spirit of divination, which brought her 
(Eoman) masters much gain by soothsaying" (Acts xvi. 16). 
These vile means are referred to by the apostle when he 
describes the opponents (verse 4) as working Satanically with 
(so the passage should be rendered) " all false power and signs 
and wonders." Observe, then, that the miracles ascribed by 



144 



HOW SCRIPTURAL PROOFS ARE FABRICATED. 



M. Meylan to me are denounced by Paul as falsities. Indeed, 
independently of the correction I have made in the transla- 
tion, the apostle, "by the words, " with all power and signs 
and lying wonders," no more pledges himself to the reality of 
those means, than does the writer in the Acts teach that Simon's 
magic (Acts viii 9), or the maiden's divination, were reali- 
ties. Clearly, these black arts are spoken of according to the 
view of them which commonly prevailed. 

And now you see how groundless is Pastor Meylan's asser- 
tion, "He (the devil) even works miracles to seduce them'' 
(the disciples of Christ). 

But at this point I must draw your attention to a not un- , 
common artifice. First, bear in mind that whatever is said 
in the passage which we have studied, is said in regard to the 
men and the circumstances of the day when it was written. 
This must be taken to be the case, unless in any particular 
case the writer makes a clear exception by announcing a 
general fact or a universal truth. Xothing of the kind has 
come under our eves. Nevertheless, the proposition which this 
scripture is adduced to support is a general fact and a uni- 
versal truth. How is it made so ? Simply by assumption on 
the part of the writer. He writes in the present tense, and 
so universalizes what he says ; and universalizing what he says, 
he creates all the comprehensiveness there is in his statement. 
This is not to interpret Scripture, but to invent and enforce 
beliefs ; and to do both in the most effectual manner, because 
silently, unpretendingly, and as if unconsciously. 

A second passage adduced from the writings of the apostle 
to the Gentiles is found in these his words : u Put on the 
whole armour 1 of God, that ye may be able to stand against 
the wiles of the devil ; for we wrestle not against flesh and 
blood, but against principalities and powers, against the riders 
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness 
in high places" (Ephes. vi 11, 12). The passage is brought 
forward by M. Meylan to sustain this his proposition : k< the 
devil and his angels exercise an influence over the heart of 



THE TRUE DEVIL IS THE RULERS OF DARKNESS. 145 



men in order to impel them to evil. 5 ' Now this statement, and 
that made by Paul (whatever it signifies), are clearly not tan- 
tamount. You cannot, I mean, put the one for the other : the 
two are not interchangeable. If not, they differ. The differ- 
ence may be in substance or in form, in one particular or in 
several. Xo matter: they differ; and, differing, this cannot be 
taken for that, nor that for this. I give as an instance the 
fact, that while Paul does mention the devil, the theologian 
mentions "the devil and his angels." This one difference 
vitiates the whole, for it destroys the identity of the two. 

The writer, however, by implication tells you in the twelfth 
verse what he means by "the devil" mentioned in the eleventh : 
and it is no person at all, but certain abstractions which he 
describes as not flesh and blood (that is, ordinary humanity), 
but " principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of 
the world, against spiritual wickedness in high places 
namely, the evil authorities in church and state that did their 
utmost to crush the religion of Jesus in its cradle. This for- 
midable, idolatrous and libertine power was the devil or adver- 
sary that Paul had in view, and with which he had to wrestle 
in common with all the children of God. By such rulers 
the apostle was detained in prison while writing this Epistle 
(comp. i. 20). The imagery is a scenic representation derived 
from the Oriental philosophy, and as such not to be taken 
to represent reality. As well suppose that the kings and 
queens that fret and stalk upon the mimic stage are kings and 
queens indeed. 

When war devastates lands, cities and homes, or when 
persecution slaughters the elect ones of the Church, what 
more natural than that prophetic indignation, or the outraged 
sense of humanity, should blast the criminals by names which 
in the olden time were used to denote diabolical potentates 1 
Xo one that at this hour (Jan. 1, 1870) witnesses the widely- 
spread disaster, ruin and woe, under which Prance is suffering, 
could hesitate to denounce Louis Xapoleon, its guilty cause, 
as a demon, as Apollyon the destroyer. 

L 



146 PERSIAN LEGEND AND JEWISH FABLE MY CREATORS. 

Tlie two remaining passages quoted from Paul may appear 
to shew that the apostle believed in the devil. The passages 
(2 Cor. xi. 3 ; 1 Cor. x. 20) in combination state that " the 
" serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety," and that " the 
Gentiles sacrificed to devils, and not to God." Both these pro- 
positions we have previously met with. The former rests on 
the second account of creation, and has been already judged. 
The second is connected with the falsity already condemned, 
to the effect that the objects worshiped by the pagans were 
the fallen angels. This is a Jewish fable. That is a Persian 
legend. Both were received by Paul among the rudiments of 
the education which he underwent in the schools of Tarsus 
and at the feet of Gamaliel. Whatever Pio Xono may do, 
Paul never pretended to infallibility. Ever does he speak of 
himself in a tone of modesty. In a matter of practical morals, 
after declaring his ''judgment," he adds, "and I think that I 
also have the spirit of God" (1 Cor. vii. 40). Even in regard 
to so momentous a matter as " the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus my Lord," he says, "Xot that I have already 
obtained or am already made perfect, but I press on, if so be 
that I may lay hold on that for which also I am laid hold on 
by Christ" (Philipp. iii. 8, seq.). In general terms he con- 
fesses, <£ We know in part, and we prophesy in part ; but 
when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in 
part will be done away : for now we see through a glass 
darkly; but then face to face" (1 Cor. xiii. 9, seq.). "What 
a rebuke, too, does he utter against all who set up their know- 
ledge as the standard of divine truth, measuring every man's 
corn by their own bushel, when he says, " If any man think 
that he knoweth anything, he knoweth it not yet as he ought 
to know it. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 
If any man love God, the same is known (owned) by him" 
(1 Cor. viii. 2—4). 

I am now brought to the one historical passage in Acts 
xxvi. 18 referred to by pastor Meylan. The words form part 
of the address which Paul heard when, on his mission of 



THE WORK OF METAPHOR IN MY CREATION. 



147 



persecution to Damascus, he was struck to the earth and con- 
verted to Christianity : " The Gentiles unto whom I (the 
risen Jesus) now send thee, to open their eyes, that they may 
turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to 
God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance 
among those that are sanctified." Were it certain that this 
speech received no unconscious colouring from Paul's belief in 
Satan, and that the speaker believed in the devil as a personal 
being, then the passage might be adduced as an instance in 
which a recognition of Satan fell from the lips of J esus ; but 
as an independent testimony it has no logical value. I shall 
immediately proceed to consider what position Jesus held in 
regard to belief in myself, and consequently leave this point 
in the scales. If, however, we look at the passage itself, we 
find its tenor adverse to the personal hypothesis. The mission 
was designed to "open the eyes" of the Gentiles ; that is, to 
communicate religious truth to them, to convert them to the 
religion of Christ. This office is, for the sake of emphasis, de- 
scribed as turning the Gentiles from darkness to light. A third 
view is given, namely, to turn them from the power of Satan 
to God. Not necessarily is Satan to be here understood as 
denoting in the mind of Jesus a person, myself. The mean- 
ing is fully expressed, if instead of Satan we understand the 
speaker to indicate the power of error and sin. Satan may 
indeed be a popular personification of those moral evils. What 
else am I when Jesus says to Peter, " Get thee behind me, 
Satan" 1 ] (Matt. xvi. 23). This admitted, all is averred that can 
be averred with certainty. Clearly the speaker is here in the 
regions of spiritual imagery. To open the eyes is one image ; 
to turn from darkness to light is another image. It is a fair 
inference that to turn from Satan is a third. The presumption, 
then, is clearly against M. Meylan when, overlooking the figu- 
rative language of the -two previous instances, he takes the 
third figure as a literal reality. 

Something more substantial seems to present itself in the 
passage quoted from the Epistle of James in these words : 



148 



BELIEF IN DEVILS A VAIN THING. 



" Thou believest that there is one God ; thou doest well ; the 
devils also believe and tremble" (ii. 19). I will first consider 
the passage as it stands before you now. Be so good as to read 
the next verse. It runs thus : " But wilt thou know, 0 vain 
man, that faith without works is dead ?" So, then, agreeing 
with the devils in belief denotes " a vain (in the Greek it is 
empty ) man." If such agreement is an empty thing when it 
involves the acknowledgment of God as one, how much more 
empty must it be when it asserts the existence of devils ! 
Nevertheless, that existence is not asserted by James. He 
merely quotes a common form of speech, and he quotes it 
in order to shew how vain belief in any mere proposition is, 
for " belief without works is dead" (v. 20). It follows that 
belief in me is really of small importance. And yet what 
deadly influence has it had on human beings and human 
affairs ! But now let us look at our Greek Hew Testament, 
The word rendered devils is haijiov ia, that is demons, and by the 
Latin dcemones is it rendered in the Vulgate or Boman Catho- 
lic Version. The English term devils comes from Luther's trans- 
lation, which has Die teufel, the devils. Luther was a great 
* believer in devils, and he has left the impression of his belief 
in the English authorized translation, which gives devils as 
the equivalent of the Greek Saifidvia in all cases except one. 
In Acts xvii. 1 8, the Epicureans and Stoics who withstood the 
apostle Paul on the hill of Mars in Athens, say of the apos- 
tle, " He seemeth to be a herald of foreign gods" Which 
translation is right 1 Here, too, the English slavishly follow 
Luther. Which is the proper rendering — devils or gods ? 

To prosecute the inquiry as to what the dai/jiopia or demons 
of the New Testament really were, would occupy us too long. 
You will remember that Josephus describes them as the spirits 
of departed men of bad character. This opinion has been 
backed up by much learning. If this is correct, then James 
does not speak of me and mine, but of deceased human beings 
who took possession of and tortured living human beings. 
Now that possession was imaginary and not real, the effects 



A THING DONE AFORETIME IS THEREFORE DONE NOW. 149 

which occasioned the notion arising from mental disorders. 
And in that case James does nothing more than reflect the 
common opinion of his day. IN or, indeed, whatever may be 
the view which he took of possession or of the demons in 
general, can more be ascribed to him in this passage. For, 
notice, he does not declare that devils exist ; still less does he 
declare that they are personal beings • but, while treating of 
a totally different subject, namely, the necessity of works to 
faith, if faith is to be real, he uses in the way of illustration a 
statement which, implying the existence of devils and imply- 
ing their having belief, pledges him to nothing more than 
the recognition of a common saying or proverb. In other 
terms, you here find in the language of ordinary J ewish society 
that belief in devils of which I have supplied you with abun- 
dant proof. It still, however, remains an open question, how 
far that belief was shared by the apostle ; for certainly the 
question is not settled by this, the one sole reference to the 
subject supplied in this Epistle. 

Having examined the one solitary passage taken from the 
Epistle of James, I will now set down the proposition which 
it is adduced by M. Meylan to establish : " The devils tremble 
before (or in the presence of) God." Now "before God" is a 
mere addition. The text does not contain these words. Ee- 
move them, and the proposition becomes, "The devils tremble." 
This statement is made in the nineteenth century. The words 
of James were uttered in the first century. If the devils 
trembled then, it does not follow that they tremble now. But 
the author's theory says that they tremble always. Always, 
therefore, are they made to tremble. 

Here comes my parting word on this point. In the Gos- 
pels we find the demoniacs or maniacs (" lunatics " they are 
called in Matt. iv. 24, xvii. 15) were sometimes troubled and 
distressed in the presence of Jesus. Thus the demoniac men- 
tioned in Luke iv. 33, says on seeing Jesus approach, "Let 
us alone ; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Xaza- 
reth ? Art thou come to destroy us 1 I know thee, who thou 



150 



ONE TESTIMONY OXLY IN THE ACTS. 



art ; the Holy One of Israel." The poor maniac, sharing in 
the popular superstition, speaks as one under the influence of 
a malignant spirit. He is afraid of the Messiah, who, in the 
popular tradition, was to destroy my kingdom of darkness. 
Accordingly he trembles before " the Holy One of Israel." 

Here, my faithful companion, you find the root of the state- 
ment made by the apostle James, to the effect that "the 
devils believe and tremble." You now see what it is they do 
believe touching God. They believe that olla podrida, or 
mess of traditional pottage, to which I have frequently alluded. 
In such a soil man's illusions may grow, but not God's 
realities. 

"The Acts of the Apostles" supplies M. Meylan with 
one passage ; one, and no more. Here, perhaps, I shall find a 
distinct and explicit statement of this doctrine of devils, which 
is so fundamental that a learned German theologian says in 
relation to it : " He who believes himself constantly beset by 
devils, to whose baleful influences his soul is subject, is placed 
in a totally different religious atmosphere to that of us, who find 
evil solely in a diseased condition of our own will, and accord- 
ingly have to fight with ourselves, and not with spirits of the 
air."* How clearly and exactly Jesus laid down the funda- 
mental principles of his religion is exemplified by the greater 
portion of his teachings. Take, for instance, "the Parable 
of the Prodigal Son ;" take the Beatitudes ; " the Sermon on 
the Mount," as instances. Yet even these invaluable instruc- 
tions are not more important than is a view of God, the world 
and the universe, which changes the position, character and 
issues of all, at least as much as Galileo's discovery of the 
centrality of the sun changed the view of the physical cosmos, 
and changes it not for the better but for the worse, and so 
as to make the whole look like a huge aggregate of at least 
moral chaos and dismay. I am then justified in demanding 
a scriptural statement equally formal and emphatic with that 

* Christl. Dogmatik, von H. Lang, p. 8. 2nd edition, 1868. 



AND WHAT IT SAYS IS A FIGURE OF SPEECH. 151 

of M. Meylan. Nay, more ; let him, if he can — let him, as he 
ought, according to his own principles, adduce the Scripture 
which states exactly and in its own words w T hat he states in 
his words, and requires his readers to believe as infallibly true 
because taught in the Bible. I have said " the Scripture 
I want one Scripture which makes the affirmation or affirma- 
tions on behalf of which he adduces the sole passage he has 
found in the book of Acts. He is wholly unable to comply 
w T ith the demand. What, however, does he bring forward ] 
These words : "I (Jesus in his glorified state) send thee (Saul of 
Tarsus) to open the eyes of the Gentiles, and to turn them from 
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" 
(Acts xxvii. 15 — 18). Instead of a distinct, explicit and 
formal statement, you have here, dear Theophilus, words 
spoken in a vision, and heard in an overpowering excitement, 
which at the utmost speak allusively of me, and of me as pos- 
sessing power. But what realities the words represent, remains 
wholly uncertain. Are the words the words of the speaker or 
the hearer ? "Was the hearer in so sound a state of mind as 
to hear clearly and report exactly what the speaker said ? 
Did that other speak at all 1 And if so, -did he in speaking 
to an overwhelmed Jewish bigot do aught else than employ 
phraseology which was current in his day touching the king- 
dom of Satan ] One thing, however, is certain, namely, that 
the language is metaphorical, and that the metaphor employed 
finds its explanation in the world of reality in two preceding 
phrases ; viz., " to open their eyes, and to turn them from 
darkness to light." Hence it appears that the mission which 
Paul really received was a religious, a spiritual mission. It 
follows, that if "the mind of Jesus" may be learnt from the 
bulk of his own words as given in the Synoptical Gospels, 
he commissioned the converted Saul to the work of teaching 
men " to repent and turn to God, and to do works meet for 
repentance, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and 
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is 
in me" (Acts xxvi. 16 — 20, compare 23). 



152 



TESTIMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 



I have now conducted you through nearly one half of the 
Hew Testament. We have, under the direction of M. Meylan 7 
studied the Apocalypse, the Epistles, and the book of Acts, 
Every proof-text we have looked carefully into. What is the 
result ? We have, as I led you to expect, found instances in 
which mention is made of devils, but not one clear case in 
which the sacred writer declared his belief in them. Some of 
the passages, indeed, are such as, if the existence of the eccle- 
siastical devil had been previously established, would admit 
of that interpretation. But no solid independent proof thereof 
have we found. It is easy to see that belief in me existed 
in the medium in which the writers lived and worked. It is 
not easy to determine to what extent, or whether at all, those 
writers held the vulgar opinions ; but we have no positive evi- 
dence whatever that those opinions were the same as are now 
a constituent part of the " saving faith" of orthodoxy. 

SECTION II. 

THE GOSPELS : JOHN, MATTHEW, MAKE, LUKE, 

And thus I am, in due course, brought to the Gospels. The 
question to be decided is : Do the Gospels shew that Jesus 
believed in a personal devil, such as I am now described to be ? 

Certain points have been previously established. Eirst, the 
Hebrew nation, a branch (indeed the chief branch) of the 
Shemitic people, after emerging from their state of religious 
pupilage, were, and persistently remained, rigorous monothe- 
ists, who not only owned the one only living and true God, 
but waged war against all false divinities, and specially opposed 
the Zoroastrian dualism, in which the notion of a devil, or 
originator of moral evil, first came into full and definite ex- 
istence. In consequence, their classic literature presents no 
trace of a personal devil, and it is only at a late period, and 
among popular superstitions, that diabolical mythology makes 
an appearance. That appearance, at first shadowy and in- 
frequent, if not equivocal also, taking place in degenerate ages, 



JESUS SAW TOO DEEPLY TO BELIEVE EN ME. 



153 



when the monotheism of the prophets had been distempered 
by foreign ingredients, increased alike in bulk and diversity, 
until in what, in a large sense, may be termed the age of 
Jesus, it became a substantial part of the national belief, 
and, mixed up with Messianic misconceptions and apocalyptic 
dreams, went far to madden the populace and precipitate the 
fatal collision with Eonie. In a word, during the public mi- 
nistry of Jesus, the air, so to say, was in Judea full of devils 
and demons. Was the vulgar conception shared by Jesus I 
This one or two considerations will shew to be improbable. 
If Paul was " a Hebrew of the Hebrews''' (Philip, iii. 5) 3 Jesus 
was a Shemite of the Shemites. He seized, appropriated and 
taught, the grand Shemitic idea of one only God, the Creator 
and Benefactor of all. Proofs are not needed of a fact that- 
most will at once admit. This idea of one God, Jesus so 
modified as to bring out. in the utmost fulness and beauty, 
the moral element which it contains. Hence his invocations, 
"Our Father" (Matt. vi. 9), "Righteous Father" (John xvii. 
25). Of this one righteous Father the providence is uni- 
versal, extending not only to the physical and the animal 
world (Matt. vii. 24, seq. ), but also to the intelligent world, 
and in that world embracing the bad no less than the good 
(Matt. v. 45), and embracing the bad with such tender and 
sympathetic care, that he loves even his enemies (44), and 
sends his Son to minister to the sick rather than to the sound, 
to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance, to seek 
and save the lost, and that with such singleness of purpose, 
as to leave of his flock ninety-and-nine that are quietly 
browsing the downs, in order to go over hill and dale, and 
through wood and wilderness, to recover the one lost sheep, 
which, when found, he lays on his shoulder and bears home 
rejoicingly. 

Here you have the positive side of the mind of Jesus in 
regard to the solemn and all-comprehensive subject of God 
and Providence. Now I submit that a mind such as that of 
Christ, which was pervaded and actuated by that idea, could 



154 JESUS CHOSE THE TRUE AND LEFT THE FALSE. 

never, along side of it, have admitted the manifest contradic- 
tion thereof which is involved in the notion of the common 
ecclesiastical devil. To snch an extent are the two incompa= 
tible. that now, just in proportion as individuals and churches 
make the first a reality in their minds and lives, does the old 
superstition recede, until it finally retires and passes into con- 
genial darkness. Of all minds, that of Jesus most fully realized 
his own idea of God in conception, in sentiment, and in act. 
Consequently he could not have held its antagonist. 

I further observed that Jesus stood before the religion of 
his forefathers and the religion of his contemporaries as an 
eclectic. The fact is proclaimed and exemplified by his Sermon 
on the Mount, isot indiscriminately did he follow either the 
ancients or the moderns. Xot by wholesale did he appro- 
priate the contents of their sacred books, ^o one feature of 
his character is more marked and decided than its eclecticism. 
It is all contained in his own phrase, " It has been said by 
those of old — but I say unto you," &c. (Matt. v. 21, seq.). 
And the general tenor of his antithesis proves beyond a doubt 
that it was a moral and spiritual power of the widest and 
deepest kind by which he was actuated in the mental processes 
by which he chose that and rejected this, enlarged the narrow, 
converted the partial into the universal, and in the fact dived 
down and took up its underlying principle, thus in all cases 
casting aside the external and the temporary, so as to lay firm 
hold of the intrinsic and everlasting. A mind habituated to 
such processes could not fail to leave behind the speculative 
and legendary elements connected with a personal devil. 

This eclectic power is essential to his typal character as 
"the Son of Man." The child of his race, he stood forth 
in one aspect as the model man. Being the model man, 
he contained in himself all possible human perfections. In 
consequence, he was in his own qualities an anticipation of 
humanity made perfect. But as humanity has evolved its 
essential elements, a personal devil has sunk out of sight. At 
present, moral science does not take the trouble to disprove 



THE KNOWN WORDS OF JESUS FREE FROM SATANISM. 155 

his existence, so ludicrous does its averment appear. If, then, 
Jesus did believe in a personal devil, he loses at least so 
much of his typal character. But something less than per- 
fection is simply imperfection, and so those who uphold the 
devil disparage Christ, and that in so momentous a matter 
as to rob him of moral perfection. Yet, without that attribute, 
if the Christ of yesterday, he is not the Christ of to-day and 
for ever. Already has a Christ with whom belief in a per- 
sonal devil is an essential, lost influence over the most intel- 
ligent and cultivated portions of the human race. Should 
the teachers that have the popular ear, following in the foot- 
steps of Pastor Meylan, continue to enforce belief in me, be- 
yond a doubt their loss of the philosophers will be supple- 
mented by the loss of the people, and that in the degree in 
which knowledge and culture shall cover the earth. 

The only other general consideration I offer now is, that 
the known words of Jesus are free from this spurious element. 
Those words are presented in his parabolic teachings. The 
amount is very considerable, and so various are its contents, as 
to comprise all he had to say on the great object of his mis- 
sion, namely, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the 
nature and attractiveness thereof, the conditions of admission, 
and the rewards and retributions which membership involves. 
Here you have that "gospel of the kingdom" wdiich is " the 
good seed" and " the word of God." Make your mind familiar 
therewith ; it is what his heavenly Father taught Jesus in 
order that he might teach, and in teaching save the world. 
The whole sphere of this most wise, most salutary, most 
simple, most sublime and most impressive doctrine is, almost 
without exception, free from national, local, partial, legendary 
elements. To exhibit this fact to your eyes would require 
me to extract the larger part of the four Gospels. I must 
here leave you in the main to your own studies. And this I 
can do with the greater confidence, because I am about to 
consider the real or fancied exceptions as they are presented 
by M. Meylan. 



156 ONE REFERENCE ONLY IN THE FOURTH GOSPEL. 

In number, the passages in the Gospels to which he refers 
in proof of his views on Satan are 17. Of these, 6 are in 
Matthew, 4 in Mark, 6 in Luke, and 1 in John. His zeal 
and knowledge may be taken as a guarantee that he has 
adduced the whole adducible evidence on the point. 

Let me first ask your attention to the one reference to the 
authority of the fourth Gospel. Observe, it is one : what, only 
one ] Only one. And yet this Gospel contains so very many 
words ascribed to Jesus. Taken as it stands in the common 
English Version, it contains 919 verses. Of these, two-thirds 
at least consist of Christ's words. Of (say) 600 verses, only 
one verse refers to our subject. Why, this is marvellous in- 
deed ! And yet Satan lies at the centre of orthodox theology. 
The whole system turns round that pivot. Take away the 
devil, and, the key-stone of the arch being removed, the 
bridge falls into ruins. And with all the implied reticence 
on the part of Christ touching myself, not a single word does 
the Gospel contain touching what are called my angels. Yes, 
the demoniacs are left out of the fourth Gospel. Neverthe- 
less, it is a requirement of orthodoxy to believe that it was 
written by John, the beloved disciple, who saw his Master 
daily casting out demons. What greater testimony can be 
alleged against the supposition that Jesus believed in a per- 
sonal devil ? Either John must have lost his eyes and ears 
or lost bis memory, or Jesus could not have held the view 
ascribed to him by Pastor Meylan. You deny that the Gospel 
is the work of John. Critics of a high character make the 
affirmation. But then the affirmation clears the way for the 
statement, that the author of the fourth Gospel wrote ex- 
pressly, as to universalize the testimony in both its character 
and its effects, so with a view to that important end to winnow 
out of the mind of the Church all the legendary tares of 
devilism and demonism, and to transmit to posterity a por- 
trait of Jesus as he really was, and consequently as free in 
word as well as thought from "the wood, hay and stubble" 
of the pagan as well as the Hebraic past. 



John's testimony is from john, not from jesus. 157 

The one sole passage runs thus : " Ye (the Jews) are of 
your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. 
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the 
truth,, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh 
a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of 
it" (viii. 44). 

These words represent the opinions either of the speaker or 
the hearers, so far as the existence and character of Satan are 
concerned. They cannot have been meant by the writer to 
represent the opinions of J esus, since the former has studiously 
avoided ascribing a belief in a personal devil to the latter, 
either directly or indirectly, throughout the Gospel. More- 
over, such a belief stands in contradiction with the severe and 
spiritual monotheism held and published by Jesus. There is, 
indeed, an alternative which deserves attention. May not the 
words represent the opinions of the author of the Gospel? 
It is taught by most eminent modern critics that the fourth 
Gospel, though containing many historical traits, is yet not 
so much a biography as a disquisition, written to throw into 
relief the divine side of Christ, by means of a succession of 
scenes freely painted by the author out of materials he had 
at his command. In such a composition, the views of the 
writer would inevitably interweave themselves with the tex- 
ture of his work. This view is not a little recommended by 
the fact, that the author is known to have held the popular 
notion of a personal devil, since he expresses it in 1 John iii. 8, 
in these words : " He that committeth sin is of the devil, 
for the devil sinneth from the beginning ; for this purpose the 
Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works 
of the devil." As, then, it is generally held that the writer 
of this Epistle is the author of the Gospel, and as we know 
that he believed in a personal devil from these his own words, 
we are warranted in asserting that consciously or unconsciously 
he put his own notions into the mouth of Christ, while placing 
him on the stage in conversation and conflict with the Jews. 



158 THE SYNOPTICS TINGED WITH THE DEMONISM OF THE DAY, 

And this lie might do with the less hesitation, because, apart 
from the question of my personal existence, both passages 
contain a most important and ever-recurring verity. Beyond 
a doubt, a great conflict is proceeding on the surface of the 
earth — a conflict between moral evil and moral good. It 
is also clear that the readiest way to express the fact is to 
term the conflict as one between God (or Christ) and the devil. 
This conflict went forward while Jesus was on earth between 
himself and the Jewish authorities in Church and State ; and 
if ever such authorities deserve to be designated Satan or 
the devil, they unquestionably did. Indeed, they exhibited in 
broad and high relief those baser qualities of human nature 
which led even the earliest ages to acknowledge a prince of 
darkness and death, as well as a prince of light and life. In 
those qualities you see the origin and the source of my exist- 
ence in a personal shape. I am the impersonation of man's 
evil, and as man's evil is found wherever man exists, I have 
"a local habitation and a name" all over the surface of the 
earth. 

I now ask you to accompany me in an investigation of the 
more important passages (together with one or two others) 
adduced by our authority from the three first Gospels. These 
writings are specially Jewish. They are the products of the 
Jewish state of thought. As such, they are of course deeply tinged 
with the prevalent hues of the popular mind. In presenting 
those colours, they attest their origin and date. They are 
manifestly productions of the middle of the first century, as 
the first century was then in the land of Judea. The more 
closely that age is studied, the more accurately it is known, the 
clearer does it appear that the Gospels according to Matthew, 
Mark and Luke, are growths of the Jewish soil, as it was in 
the days of " Herod the king " and the emperors Tiberius, 
JSTero and Vespasian. Not in vain, then, does this ineffaceable 
stamp lie on the surface of these writings. Beyond a doubt 
they contain a genuine and veritable portrait of the Saviour 



YET SUPPLY ONLY FOUR TEXTS. 



159 



of mankind. But then the likeness is cut in marble that 
may contract some discolouring, rather than painted in encaus- 
tic that ever remains the same. 

Let us first look at the references made to the Gospel of 
Matthew. For the sake of facility I repeat them : they are 
Matthew iv. 1, xii. 24, ix. 34, xii. 24, iv. 1, xxv. 41 ; in all, 
six. But two of these are repeated, namely, iv. 1 and xii. 24. 
Bemove these two, and we have four texts to deal with, 
namely, iv. 1, ix. 34, xii. 24, and xxv. 41. 

The reference iv. 1 is given to substantiate the meaning of 
the word dtafioXog as given by M. Meylan. That meaning is 
"calumniator." Whether this is the primary sense of the 
word or not, certainly the reference does not sustain or illus- 
trate it. The passage is what is called " the Temptation of 
Christ." Now in that temptation I do not appear in the cha- 
racter of a calumniator. I calumniate no one in it. I speak 
ill of nothing sacred. I quote Scripture respectfully. But 
though these are simple facts, and though I do not wish even 
to seem to bear unduly hard on a Christian minister, I must 
injustice to myself say, that it is somewhat curious that I find 
occasion to correct a sacerdotal authority so often and so much. 
Pursuing this idea, I am compelled to tell him that, in de- 
fining anything, it is unwise and unsafe to clutch your defini- 
tion out of the air. Yet what else does M. Meylan ? At the 
beginning of his article he defines the word devil in these 
terms : " (calumniator, Matt. iv. 1) the chief of the rebel angels." 
Now these same rebel angels of which he speaks, as if univer- 
sally known and recognized, are, I have shewn you, my be- 
loved pupil, a mere Jewish version of an old and defunct pagan 
figment. He adds, that " he is also called Satan." Well, you 
and I have studied the Satan of the Old Testament and found 
that he is no rebel* angel at all, but is picturesquely put for- 
ward in a kind of dramatic poem as holding a recognized place 
and discharging a recognized function in " the court of heaven's 
high King." The narrative of the temptation is, as it stands 
in Matthew (iv. 1 ), so crowded with improbabilities, not to say 



160 



THE TEMPTATION A MORAL STORY. 



moral impossibilities, as to make it seem to me most marvellous 
that an intelligent teacher of religion should, at this time of 
day, insist on its being simple history. I abstain, out of 
reverence, from setting forth the considerations that justify 
my implications. Bat if this is history, then Christianity 
must acknowledge that it stands in the issue on a level with 
Islamism, for this history equals in absurdity certain historical 
narratives in the Koran. But if this is history, then tell me 
what differences history from parable. " The parables of our 
Lord" is a customary phrase which acknowledges that he did 
utter parables. Now a parable is indeed in form a history — an 
historical narrative. Take as an example " the Parable of 
the Prodigal Son." Here the form is historical, and yet who 
acknowledges a history in this impressive story 1 The com- 
position is simply a "moral tale," say after the manner of 
Miss Edgeworth. Well, then, how do you know that this is 
a . tale, and that the temptation is a history ? You reply (it is 
all that you can say), that manifestly in the case of the Prodigal 
Son the events did not take place. If so, then it is a fiction, 
a fiction full of a moral — a moral, I will add, most precious 
and most attractive. But what do you mean by " manifestly" ? 
Give me the distinctive signs and tokens of a parable, as 
opposed to an historical narrative. You can assign none but 
a certain degree of improbability. Take Jotham's parable of 
how "the trees went forth to anoint a king" (Judg. ix. 7, seq.). 
You call this, not a history, but a parable : why 1 " Trees 
cannot walk or talk." Yery good. Can moral perfection be 
tempted by moral baseness 1 Could even " the man Christ 
Jesus" be tempted by a creature so vile as I am said to be ? 
What ! in my own proper form ? — and I am not described as 
assuming another. Why, even Schaeffer, with all his masterly 
skill, has not succeeded in throwing over his picture of " The 
Temptation" an air of even sesthetical probability, though he 
has painted me with such features as almost to tempt me to 
wish that I were as grand as he represents me. If this fails 
to reach the height of moral impossibility, that height is 



THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS AN ALLEGORY. 



161 



surely reached when Christ, who is, the creeds say, God the 
Son, of the same power and majesty as God the Father, is 
described as carried through the air from the desert up to 
the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem (Matt. iv. 5). Had 
such a representation been possible before the eyes of Isaiah, 
with what holy indignation would he have repeated his glow- 
ing words (xl. 1 8) : 

* ' To whom then will ye liken Grod ? 
Or what likeness will ye compare unto him ?" 

In brief, orthodoxy breaks down, and is crushed here under 
the load of the incredibilities which it has been made to bear. 

The temptation of Jesus, as described in the Synoptics, is a 
parable or allegory, setting forth in a certain dress the states 
of mind through which Jesus went when brought into con- 
nection with the spirit of his age. That spirit was one of 
gross, selfish, enervated materialism, which was making the 
ever-recurring mistake of attempting to overcome evil with 
evil, and so to reform society by force of arms and the mani- 
pulation of wonder-working power of some kind or other. 
That spirit, during his public ministry, was ever, when he 
had said or done some one of his glorious realities, eager to 
take Jesus and make him a king of its own mean sort, that 
under its gaudy and flaunting banner it might lead the Jewish 
zealots to victory, and drive the hated Eoman from the land. 
That e vil spirit presented itself to the mind of Jesus in attrac- 
tive colours and with brilliant promises. It met him and 
solicited him at every turn he took and every step he set, on 
his missionary journeys, to found the kingdom of God in the 
land. It assailed him only to be repelled. Toiled under this 
guise, the evil spirit returned, hoping to seduce him from his 
loyalty by working on the cravings of his ajopetite. Failing 
again, it appealed to his ambition. The most powerful incen- 
tives of the human heart were wrought upon, in order to turn 
Jesus aside from his purely spiritual mission. It was all in 



162 "the temptation' 5 prefigures the history OF JESUS, 

vain. He remained faithful to God and duty, and so rose 
superior to the "blandishments of sense. 

Thus viewed, the parable which is called " the Temptation" 
is a dramatic anticipation of the real history which Jesus 
lived, while founding on earth the kingdom of heaven. Thus 
much for its substance. Its form it inevitably took from the 
phraseology of the age. Even while speaking of it now. I 
am obliged to use, as I have done, the phrase " this evil spirit. 5 ' 
To make my form into the form of the narrative, I have only 
to use a capital instead of a small letter, writing this, this Evil 
Spirit, and I employ language which may be understood as 
denoting myself. 

So slight is the difference between the natural sense and the 
demonological sense. That slight difference existed in the 
first century, no less than in the nineteenth. Along side of 
the vulgar state of mind, that regarded " the devil and his 
angels " as personal realities, there stood another of a higher, 
a purely moral order, which, looking through these dark 
shadows, discerned the substances which they represented as 
well as veiled. With such persons, Satan was man's adver- 
sary in general ; for did not his name signify adversary ; and 
might not any one who acted adversely to another be called 
Satan, without it being implied that he was one of " the fallen 
angels n ? In short, these infernal divinities were at the time 
as fast falling from their thrones, as are Italian, French, Ger- 
man and other princes in the present age. In men whose 
spiritual vision was pure and piercing enough to get below the 
surface to the eternal realities, the heathen divinities were 
divinities no longer, and I myself had sunk to an empty 
name, Such an eye was that of Jesus, who, seeing objects 
as they are seen of God, saw me in the aerial lineaments of 
verbal imagery, and accordingly applied my name to human 
beings when their character or conduct was low, mean or 
treacherous. Did he not call his own apostle Satan i What ! 
was the prince of the apostles — was he on whom, as the rock, 



THE ROMAN CHURCH BUILT ON SATAN. 163 

the Papal Church claims to be built — was Peter really Satan ? 
And yet can words be more distinct, or, I may add, more re- 
proachful ? " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art a stum- 
bling-block unto me ; for thou savourest not the things that 
be of God, but those that be of men" (]\Iatt. xvi. 23). A 
similar use of the term Satan is in the original found in 
2 Samuel xix. 22, in these words used by David : "What 
have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should 
this day be adversaries (Satans) unto me ? Shall there be any 
man put to death this day in Israel I for do not I know that 
I am this day king over Israel ?" What difference, then, is 
there between Christ's, " Get thee behind me, Satan," ad- 
dressed to Peter, and his "Get thee hence, Satan" (Matt. iv. 
10), forming part of "the Parable of the Temptation"? In 
the same figurative manner Jesus used the word Satan when 
the seventy disciples reporting to him the success of their 
mission in this figure of speech, " Lord, even the demons are 
subject unto us through thy name," Jesus, with his prophetic 
eye foreseeing the downfall of the kingdom of sin and evil, 
figuratively described as the kingdom of Satan, replied : " I 
beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke x. 17), 
immediately adding, as if to shew that it was with the aid of 
striking imagery that he spoke of the evils and woes of 
human kind : " Eehold I give you power to tread on serpents 
and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and 
nothing shall by any means hurt you ; notwithstanding, in 
this rejoice not that the spirits are subject to you; but 
rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven." The 
last member of the whole suffices to emphasize the figurative 
character of this language. " Your names are written in heaven," 
is an image declaring that these successful missionaries were 
called and elect servants of God. If, however, you will insist 
on taking Satan as a proper name, contrary to the general 
tenor of the passage and without any logical necessity, then 
be consistent, and take serpents as meaning serpents, and 
scorpions as meaning scorpions, though to do so you must act 

M 2 



164 JESUS SPEAKS TO MEN IN THEIR OWN TERMS. 

in direct opposition to the obviously spiritual and religious 
import of the whole. Clearly you can deduce no argument in 
favour of Christ's recognition of a personal devil from the 
circumstances, because had he ever so much wished to employ 
spiritual phraseology to describe spiritual realities, he had not 
here, nor indeed in any case when he addressed the people, 
any sort of option, since he was compelled to speak to them 
of moral and religious things in their own tongue, and beyond 
a doubt that tongue, as you have already had reason to know, 
overflowed with demonological phrases. — Before I leave this 
point I must add a word or two. I opened it by declaring 
that the word " calumniator" was not the essential meaning 
of the term SiafiokoQ, and all that I have said goes to shew that, 
in this application at least, tempter is the right term. There 
is no reason why the devil should be vilified. ^Vhy calum- 
niate the " calumniator " ? True Christian " charity" thinketh 
no evil even of Satan. The next proof alleged is Matthew ix. 
34, which is more folly reported in Luke xi. 14, which I cite 
in a corrected version : " Jesus was casting out a demon that 
was dumb. And when the demon was cast out, the dumb 
spoke, and the multitudes wondered. And others, trying him, 
sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their 
thoughts, said to them : Every kingdom divided against itself 
is brought to ruin, and a family divided against a family 
falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how can 
his kingdom stand ] I ask the question because ye say that 
I cast out demons by Beelzebub. But if I by Beelzebub cast 
out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out ? Therefore 
they shall be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast 
out demons, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." 
The answer is beyond a doubt an appeal to the argument urn 
ad hominem. Jesus, the more effectually to confute his de- 
tractors, looks at the matter from their point of view. Be- 
lieving in devils, demons, Satan and Beelzebub, and ascribing 
dumbness, with other maladies, to demoniacal influence, as you 
have seen from Josephus, they accuse Jesus of employing for 



THE DESIGNATION BEELZEBUL. 



165 



his purposes demoniacal aid. Whereupon out of their own 
charge, and in their own words, he constructs a contradiction 
of the most effectual kind. The passage, good to tell us what 
his assailants thought about Satan, actually leaves the thought 
of Jesus on the subject totally unuttered. 

And here I may say a word of one of the designations 
which M. Meylan and men of his caste bestow on me, 
namely, Beelzebub In the authorized English translation this 
word stands as Beelzebub. Beelzebul is the correct reading. 
I mention this the rather because it leads me to give you a 
brief history of the Biblical use of the word, so as to enable 
you to judge how far I have any right to the name. The 
form Beelzebub (lord of flies, or wasps, or locusts) was the 
specific designation of the false divinity of Ekron (2 Kings 
i. 2 ; 1 Sam. v. 10), one of the five royal towns of the Philis- 
tines (Josh. xiii. 3, xv. 45). In order to turn this idol into 
an offensive abomination, the Jews, after their custom, by 
a slight change in the second part of the compound term, 
that is, by changing bub into bul, called him lord of the dung- 
heap. This stercorous divinity of Philistia his enemies then 
made prince of the demons, giving him a throne as little 
honourable as his newdy-fabricated title. Now by that title 
(lord of the dung-heap) they meant to denote the contemptible 
nothingness of the pagan divinities : what else, then, could they 
mean when they placed on him the crown of the kingdom of 
the demons ? All this looks like the workings of indignant 
passion, more than the sedate and earnest opinion of religious 
men. Nevertheless, it is eagerly seized and freely used in 
order to first make me a reality, and then to make that reality 
as frightful as possible. 

Among the forms of speech which Jesus employs are, " the 
kingdom of God" and "the kingdom of heaven." These are so 
numerous as to need no reference. By this utterance he de- 
noted God's beneficent rule on this side of the grave and on 
the other. God's rule in man's heart is in itself the achieve- 
ment of God's aim, and in its consequences the moral order, 



166 THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THAT OF SATAN. 

beauty and beatitude of man's intelligent, moral and undying 
nature. This was the doctrine of Jesus. By the side of this 
view of the moral universe, as in the hands of God, stood in 
sharp and broad contrast the kingdom of Satan or the king- 
dom of hell. The latter was the popular conception as to the 
antagonism which it placed over against the rule, sway or 
dominion of God. 

Both views Jesus found in the land of Palestine when he 
went forth from his cottage home at Nazareth to have an 
interview with the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan. He 
found both views represented, the one by the phrase "the 
kingdom of God," the other by "the kingdom of the devil." 

Now " mark, learn and inwardly digest" the fact. He used 
the former constantly. Not once did he use the latter. What 
is this but to say that the former was his own view, the latter 
not his own view ? This he drops out of his diction alto- 
gether. That he employs, and for what? To describe the 
work his Heavenly Father had given him to do, in all its 
simplicity, graciousness, comprehension and grandeur. The 
religion of Jesus, then, does not involve "the kingdom of 
Satan." On the contrary, it excludes it ; and when it is true 
that it is totally excluded, while "the kingdom of God" is 
ever on the lips of Jesus, it is not too much to affirm that the 
exclusion was conscious and intentional. There is one ex- 
ception, and the exception proves the rule. In Luke xi. 18 
(Matt. xi. 26 ; Mark iii. 22), Jesus employs the words "his 
kingdom," referring to Beelzebul. But in doing so he does 
but take up the diction of his assailants in order the more 
effectually to rebut their charge. The accusation against him 
was made by " the Pharisees," who were overrun with demon- 
ism : " This fellow," they said, " doth not cast out demons but 
by Beelzebul, the prince of demons." The "kingdom of Satan" 
being thus introduced, Jesus could do no other than take up 
the falsity and the phrase in order to confute both. And 
this he does by affirming as the result of the whole, " the 
kingdom of God is come unto you." 



<4 THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS." 



167 



It is lamentable that so gross an error of the Pharisees 
should have been attributed to J esus ; for undoubtedly, as 
they were Christ's ceaseless assailants, he bade his hearers 
" take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees " (Matt, 
xvi. 6 ; Luke xii. 1). 

The third of the four texts adduced from Matthew needs 
no particular attention. It is simply a repetition (xii. 24) of 
the last testimony I have investigated. 

Nevertheless, please to observe that what appeared to be 
six proofs, having been previously reduced to four, is now 
seen to be only three. Three short passages in the twenty- 
eight chapters of which the Gospel consists ! and of these two 
have been seen to offer no positive proof that Jesus believed 
in me. The ascertained facts leave in our hands no presump- 
tion in favour of the opinion that the Light of the spiritual 
world believed in me at all. 

However, let us look at the passage in Matthew xxv. 41, 
" Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for 
the devil and his angels." Here, undoubtedly, you find the 
notion which I have led you to expect, namely, a reflection 
of the Persian Ahriman as held and coloured by the age of 
Jesus. But even here there is no direct averment of my ex- 
istence, but only an implication of it, such as exemplifies what 
I have just said. Equally does the passage fail to prove that 
Jesus believed in a personal devil. All that the passage re- 
quires is admitted, if I state that he here uses the ordinary 
language of the times. The common opinion refers the scenery 
found in the whole of this twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew 
to what is called " the day of judgment," which it fixes at the 
end of time. This notion is unwarranted by Scripture. In 
the fourth Gospel, Jesus expressly declares : " Xow is the 
judgment of this world ; now shall the prince of this world 
be cast out" (xii. 31). With its author, judgment is not post- 
poned to some indefinite point of time after death, or what is 
called "the end of the world," but is a ceaseless and ever- 
recurring process. Such, indeed, the general tenor of Scrip- 



168 



DOES JESUS CURSE AS WELL AS BLESS ! 



ture represents it as being. God's retributory providence is 
co-extensive with his own existence, and successive as the lapse 
of the minutes, hours, days, years, centuries, of what men cus- 
tomarily denominate time. Man's assizes open and close. 
God has but one assize, and is ever in permanent sitting. It 
follows that "the day of judgment" is only a form of speech. 
That form can be distinctly traced back to the false Messianic 
and apocalyptic notions which, as I have said more than once, 
filled and agitated the popular mind of Judea in the age of 
Jesus. With imagery of the kind the "book of Enoch,'' 
already mentioned, is full to overflowing. The system of 
thought which has "the devil and his angels" as a central 
element, existed antecedently to the days of Jesus. As so 
existing, it cannot be a part of the message he was commis- 
sioned to proclaim to man. His doctrine, he repeatedly de- 
clares, he had learnt of his Father. Instead, then, of ap- 
propriating existing opinions, he had it in charge to correct 
them, at least so far as incompatible with the fundamental 
truths which he was inspired to teach. Xow among those 
truths, the great and solemn doctrine of God's retributory 
providence held a prominent position. But, in the mind of 
Christ, that retributory providence was so thoroughly parental, 
as to involve the greatest and tenderest care for " the lost." 
But how are the lost regarded and treated in this chapter ? 
They are denounced as "ye cursed," and they are consigned 
to never-ending woe. These two forms of speech were, then, 
uttered by Jesus within a few hours the one of the other : 

First speech: "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels." 

Second speech : "'Father, forgive them ; they know not 
what they do." 

Can these utterances have proceeded from the same lips 
and from the same heart ? Then truly " out of the same 
mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing," notwithstanding the 
express prohibition given by James in these words : " My 
brethren, these things ought not to be" (James iii. 10). Has 



MATTHEW XXV. A FORECAST OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE. 169 

Jesus then a superior perhaps in his own family? and was his 
love, after all, so infirm, that, after having bidden his disciples 
to love and not hate their enemies, and to bless them by whom 
they were cursed, he, when near his last struggle, broke down 
and practically pronounced a curse on the greater number of 
the human race, condemning them to everlasting fire ] If this 
is a certain fact, then Jesus ceases to be the perfect man, ceases 
to be the model of his race, and has been actually excelled by 
no few of his disciples, who passed from " the fiery trial" 
with words of peace and blessing on their lips. Moreover, if 
tins is a simple fact, then all law and sequence in even men of 
distinguished morals are at an end • you cannot reason from 
one word, however emphatic, or from one thought, however 
central, to another of the same kind, but must, in your ethical 
and historical studies, prepare for the greatest and most sudden 
contrasts, the clearest and most unappeasable contradictions. 

But you are not driven to results so distressing. The entire 
twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew is a series of dramatic scenes, 
full indeed of divine and everlasting truth, but, as scenes, by 
no means to be taken ad unguem, to the letter, as representing 
actual reality. It is of the nature of such compositions to be, 
while true in substance, untrue in certain details, which are 
introduced not so much for themselves as for their picturesque 
effect in the general drama, the evolution of which to its close 
being the great object and aim of the author. If it is pleaded 
that anything so artistic is not to be attributed to Jesus, since 
his own certain utterances are no less incomparably simple than 
incomparably sublime, I admit the allegation, and find in it a 
confirmation of an opinion, that faithful as in its general bearing 
and issue is the thought of the whole to the known "mind of 
Christ," the structure and form do give intimations of the pre- 
sence of another, and, as another, so of necessity an inferior 
hand. Perhaps all the facts of the case admit of explanation 
if we suppose the thoughts to proceed from Jesus — and un- 
questionably they are such as he employed — while the form 
is attributable to some disciple, a Judaic Christian, who was 



170 WHENCE "EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT 5 '? 

as imbued with the spirit of the age, so pervaded by the 
popular demonology, which, as you now well know, involved 
the recognition of "the devil and his angels" as personal 
beings. This is rendered the more probable because the 
speaker introduces into his imagery " everlasting (seonian) 
fire" and "everlasting (aBonian) punishment." These were 
the figures which constantly recurred in the apocalyptic 
phraseology of the age, as also is the sharp and fast line of 
division between the sheep and the goats, the wicked and the 
righteous. I quote illustrations from the book of Enoch 
already cited : 

" Behold he cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to 
execute judgment and destroy the wicked. The Lord said to 
Raphael : Bind Azazyel hand and foot ; cast him into dark- 
ness ; there shall he remain for ever ; and in the great day of 
judgment let him be cast into the fire. To Gabriel also the 
Lord said : Go to the reprobates and destroy the children of 
fornication. To Michael the Lord said : Bind Samyoza and 
those who are associated with him for seventy generations 
under the earth ; then shall they be taken away into the 
lowest depths of the fire in torments, and in confinement shall 
they be shut up for ever. Then Enoch said to Azazyel : A 
great sentence is gone forth against thee. Thou shalt be 
bound ; neither shall relief, mercy or supplication, be thine. 
And I came to a river of fire, which flowed like water, and 
emptied itself into the great sea westward, and in the columns 
of heaven I beheld fires. And I beheld seven stars like great 
blazing mountains. Then the angel said : This place will be 
the prison of the stars and of the host of heaven. The stars 
which roll over fire are those which transgressed the com- 
mandment of God. This place of suffering is the prison of 
the fallen angels, and here they are kept for ever. Then I saw 
a chasm; and on the other side a strong rock and four de- 
lightful places, the abodes of the blessed spirits. Here souls 
are separated. The souls of the wicked are bound and punished 
there for ever." 



WHENCE GOOD AND BAD ANGELS ? 



171 



Here I present you in outline the scenery whence came that 
curse and that everlasting fire. If you would fully see the 
whole in detail, you must study the original whence come this 
that I have transcribed, as well as those allusive words you find 
in the New Testament. More particularly, if you would be 
familiar with the entire demonology of which orthodox priests 
have made so free a use, you will make yourself familiar with 
the book of Enoch. I will now, with Enoch's aid, supply the 
names and offices of the good angels. 

" These are the names of the angels who watch : 
" 1. Uriel, who presides over clamour and terror: 
" 2. Eaphael, who presides over the spirits of men : 
" 3. Eaguel, who inflicts punishment : 
" 4. Michael, who presides over human virtue : 
" 5. Sarskiel, who presides over the spirits of transgressors : 
" 6. Gabriel, who presides over paradise." 
The full system of good and bad angels now stands before 
you, to some extent as it stood before the eyes of the people of 
Judea some generations before the advent of Christ, no less 
than during the period of his earthly ministry. Varying, 
according to its source, in each particular version, it took up 
its seat in the hearts of the first converts to Christianity, and, 
coming with them into the Church, struck an imprint of itself 
on their ordinary religious notions, which passed into the 
words that they used when they reported their great Masters 
teachings, whether by word of mouth or in written documents. 
And thus, together with their impressions of Jesus in his 
words and deeds, they left and transmitted impressions of 
their own angelology and demonology, which became a per- 
manent possession in the Church, and that the more readily 
because Christ in his intercourse with the men of his day 
could not avoid more or less employing their peculiar phrase- 
ology. 

I have led you through Matthew's evidence of my existence 
as indicated by our authority : what is the result ? The 
result is here the same as presents itself in the Xew Testa- 



t 



172 POSSESSION, MENTAL DISEASE. 

ment wherever the subject comes into view, namely, that 
while the popular belief recognizes me as an evilly-disposed 
person, Jesus Christ shews no trustworthy signs of having 
held any opinion of the kind. In the pure and shining atmo- 
sphere of his spirituality, he remained a sterling Shemite, 
knowing no angelic nor any human antagonist to God. 

Let us turn to "the Gospel according to Saint Mark." 
Here four, authorities are referred to, viz., i. 24, v. 7, vi. 7, 
xvi. 9. These all concern, not me, but the demoniacs, of whom 
I have already said something. One or two additional words 
may be desirable. Speaking of the demoniacs in general, I 
ask your attention to the fact that there are two suppositions 
for explaining the phenomena. My operation is one ; the 
other is disease. Which is to be accepted ? The latter is 
now admitted by the most competent judges as widely as the 
latter is denied. It may be said that the voice of general 
culture supports the hypothesis of disease, while it contra- 
dicts that of a personal devil. There cannot then be a doubt 
which you ought to accept. The disorders of mind and body 
which possession implies are still common. They are treated, 
mitigated or removed, by medical appliances. In Protestant 
countries, the man would be accounted insane that attempted 
sacerdotal exorcism. Even in Catholic lands, medical resources 
have all but superseded priestly ones. Yet, while the old 
superstition is thus obsolescent outside the Church, in one 
corner of the Church itself it still lingers, darkening and de- 
grading that science, namely, Theology, which ought to lead 
the cortege of the light-bearers of the world. Among the 
references made by M. Meylan is Mark xvi. 9, where Mary 
Magdalene is spoken of as a woman out of whom Jesus had 
cast " seven devils." JSTow here I must reprove this Protestant 
divine in that he allows the unlearned to believe that this 
passage is as much Scripture as the rest which he quotes. 
Orthodox zeal is" often deaf, blind and dumb to God's truth, 
while busy in enforcing its own opinions. If now you, my 
companion, who have been so patient while I have been en- 



CASE OF MARY MAGDALENE. 



173 



gaged in these verbal criticisms and recondite researches — if 
you, who seem to have a taste for these studies and a desire to 
discriminate between primitive and genuine Christianity on 
the one side, and old corruptions and new obstinacies on the 
other — if, I say, you would like to read the New Testament 
pretty much as it was when it proceeded from the hands of 
its authors, then purchase (you can get it for two shillings), 
" The New Testament, the Authorized English Version, with 
Introduction and Various Readings from the Three most cele- 
brated Manuscripts of the Original Text, by Constantine Tis- 
chendorf, Tauchnitz Edition, 1869," and, turning to the pas- 
sage in question, you will find that those three manuscripts 
omit the words adduced as of divine authority by our clerical 
guide, together with the entire remainder of the chapter. 
Had I been guilty of this deception, I should have had a 
heap of hard words flung at my head. I make no return in 
kind ; I only express a wish that facts, which are God's words, 
may become with us all more authoritative than our creeds. 

But here I must make another complaint against your En- 
glish divines. In the Authorized or Common Version, Mary 
Magdalene is said to be possessed by " seven devils." The 
original Greek has, not devils, but demons. Of course the 
unlearned reader thinks that Mary was possessed by me, the 
devil or Satan, or some minor devil, who equally with myself 
was a fallen angel. Nothing of the kind. She is not said to 
be possessed by seven devils, but seven demons. I do not, 
because from what you have heard I need not, dwell upon the 
difference. It is huge ; and one terrible effect of the use in 
your English version of devil instead of demon is to fill the air 
of the New Testament with devilism. I seem to be everywhere 
in the Synoptical Gospels, when I am almost nowhere. Not 
fewer than 59 times does this gross misrepresentation occur 
in the New Testament. And is this the way in which the 
professed lovers of God's truth teach the people ? Sufficient 
reason have such public instructors to be civil even to me. 

I return to the passage in the appendix to " the Gospel 



174 



THE GERASEXE DEMONIAC. 



according to Mark." Were this the only passage in which 
demons are mentioned, the adduction of it by M. Meylan would 
not justify any additional words. But it may serve as an 
occasion for adding a little more information on the matter of 
demoniacal possession. Celsus gives the true idea when he 
speaks of Mary as having been cured by Jesus of "raving 
madness." The phrase is unnecessarily harsh. She was an 
epileptic. As such, she was often suddenly seized and thrown 
on the ground. Healed of this shattered state of her nervous 
system by Jesus, she felt toward him (as she might well do) 
unutterable gratitude. And it was in beholding cures so striking 
and benignant, which seemed so many victories over demo- 
niacal agencies, that led the popular mind to think and speak 
of Jesus as my antagonist and conqueror. This view of the 
case I could easily back up by the opinions of divines no less 
learned than liberal. 

The Gerasene (" Gadarene," is a false reading) demoniac is 
manifestly a maniac (Luke viii. 26 — 40), whom Jesus in virtue 
of his human and divine power tranquillized and restored to 
soundness of mind. This appears manifest from the descrip- 
tions given by the historian. The poor creature was naked (or 
all but naked), had no home, and wandered about among tombs. 
He had been in confinement, but he broke his chains and 
rushed into deserted spots. There at least he was at liberty 
from human control and cruelty, and there he could indulge 
his fits of rabid melancholy apart from risking his personal 
freedom. So much did he, in consequence of what he had 
suffered, dread the very sight of a human being, that, the 
moment he saw Jesus land on the eastern shore of the lake 
of Galilee, smitten with terror, he threw himself at the 
great Teacher's feet, exclaiming, "Torment me not." Instead 
of tormenting, Jesus soothed him, and for this purpose, wisely 
entering into the man's morbid notions, for the benign pur- 
pose of removing them, he acquiesced in the request that the 
legion of demons, to which the maniac believed he owed his 
madness, might pass into a herd of swine that was feeding on 



POSSESSION A SECOND SELF. 



175 



the mountain. Thus, partly by humouring the victim of super- 
stition, Jesus relieved his mind, deeply impressed with the 
power of the Messiah. In consequence, spectators on the 
spot shortly after saw the patient sitting at the feet of Jesus, 
" clothed and in his right mind. " That result may have been 
facilitated by explanations from the wise and gentle lips of 
Jesus, to the effect that the demons whom he dreaded were 
not demons, but his own crazy dreams and fears. Any way, 
the process is termed by Luke a healing (verse 36). The case 
seems to have been a very bad one. The invalid, from the 
intensity of his sufferings, fancied himself under the power of 
so many demons, that he had called himself legion to denote 
their number. And here we are put into possession of a key 
to the nature of the disorder and the nature of the cure. The 
man identifies himself with his tormentors. He has lost his 
individuality. It is sunk in his tyrants. They are a legion, 
and consequently legion is his own name. What a slavery 
is this ! Sanity yields the helm to insanity. Insanity assumes 
the command. Of course, having superseded the man, it 
speaks in his stead, while sometimes it speaks in its own 
name. Both these instances of false personation must be 
taken into account in studying the morbid conditions of the 
demoniacs of the New Testament. And it is in part by enter- 
ing into the facts, that Jesus proved so -effectual a physician 
in their case. Accordingly, in the instance before us, he con- 
cedes the madman's demand. The swine rush down into the 
lake. Seeing his torturers thus scattered, the sick man is 
restored to soundness, and, thrilling with gratitude, places 
himself at the feet of his great benefactor. 

The sole difficulty that remains is that rush. Its reality 
is necessary as a means of the cure. What was it, and how 
was it occasioned ? All you are told is, that Jesus " suffered" 
it, intimating that it was not his act, but rather the act of 
those by whom it w r as requested. Who were they 1 It may 
have been the spectators. Any way, one remark is valid, 
namely, that of course the whole narrative wears the demono- 



176 



THE PARALYTIC WOMAN. 



logical hues of the age and the people, and where such an 
element bears sway, entire conformity of representation with 
your modern modes of thought is not to be expected. Enough, 
however, is clear to take from the incident all support of my 
existence and personality. The disorders I inflict are not 
curable, but incurable — at least so says orthodox demonology. 

This incident brings into view two opposite methods of 
treating the insane, viz., that of force, and that of gentle and 
wise sympathy. The former only exaggerated the disease, the 
latter removed it. Yet in a civilization which worships Christ, 
the former, till recent days, held undivided sway. Only 
within the present century has the latter found practical re- 
cognition. That acknowledgment is as yet but partial. What 
wonder, when those who administer the religion of the highest 
culture teach that God's method with sinful men is one of 
wrath which, in regard to the great majority, burns and rages 
into eternity ] What wonder, when those same officials make 
fear their lever rather than love ? It is only when belief in 
me, God's great torturer, shall have ceased to worry, distress 
and degrade men, that the intrinsic gentleness of Jesus will heal 
w r ounds which now fester into deadly gangrenes. How lovely 
is that sympathetic, tender and all-subduing gentleness, as it 
shines softly out from the cure of the Gerasene demoniac ! 

The passage in Luke xiii. 16 involves the cure of the 
woman whom Satan is represented as having held bound 
eighteen years. The " infirmity" w r as a disease. The original 
denotes loss of strength, a weakness or partial paralysis. 
Such was its nature and power, that " she was bowed together, 
and could in no wise lift herself up" (11). She was restored 
by Jesus. The act, being performed on the seventh day, called 
forth indignation from a " ruler of the synagogue," w T hom Jesus 
rebuked as a " hypocrite;" adding, " Ought not this woman, 
whom Satan hath bound, lo, eighteen years, to be loosed from 
this bond on the sabbath-day '?" In this reply Jesus used the 
term Satan as indicative of the paralysis itself, considered in a 
personification. In the original Greek it is the Satan, that is, 



JUDAS AND SATAX. 



177 



as we should say, the evil, the disorder. The term the Satan, 
was supplied by the current phraseology. In his excellent 
" Attempt toward revising our English Translation of the 
Greek Scriptures" (2 vols. 8vo, 1796), Archbishop Newcome 
in a note on this scripture remarks, " In the popular language 
of the Jews, diseases and infirmities were attributed to Satan. 
See Acts x. 38 ; 1 Cor. v. 5 ; 2 Cor. xii. 7 ; 1 Tim. i. 20." 

And so we obtain aid toward understanding the last re- 
ference to Luke's authority, viz. xxii. 3, 31. It is the case of 
Judas, the betrayer of Christ. In the third verse the his 
torian tells us that just before Judas delivered Jesus up, 
"Satan entered into him." This is merely the Jewish form 
of saying that Judas was seized and mastered by an evil design, 
namely, to betray his Lord. How natural a figure this ! for, 
observe, it is a figure of speech. The image is psychologically 
justifiable. Bad thoughts, as it were, rush into the mind some- 
times. Even in trying to be literal, I have undesignedly em- 
ployed the figure of rushing into a mind. Another form of 
speech makes sudden thoughts rise in the mind, or seize (as 
from without) the heart. And yet the sense is not exhausted 
when we describe bad (or good) thoughts as sometimes sud- 
denly taking possession (another figure) of the mind. The 
phrase implies in such cases that the person spoken of is not 
habitually bad, nor usually so good, as the case may be ; and 
so Luke seems to have meant to intimate that Judas was not 
wholly and habitually corrupt. 

It has been truly said that " figures of speech are edge-tools ; 
they cut the fingers of those who use them." Certainly those 
who use them, not knowing what they do, are sure to injure 
themselves and mislead others. Language abounds in these 
dangers. You can scarcely speak of any state or operation of 
man's intelligent nature but you incur a risk of employing a 
figure which may mislead yourself or others. Take the phrase 
I have just employed, incur a risk. To incur, when translated 
out of its Latin form into plain Saxon English, is to run into, 
and to run into a thing is to go speedily into it of your own 

N 



178 PETER SIFTED BY SATAN. 

4 

accord. But in the sentence where just "before the phrase is 
found, there is properly no running at all, and the figurative 
running into is plainly unintentional. 

Of all the figures of speech, personification involves the 
greatest turning aside from simple fact, since it makes mere 
qualities into real persons. The principal source of my per- 
sonal existence is personification. I am indeed historically 
only a figure of speech . 

Had these facts been uppermost in Pastor Meylan's mind, 
he would not have put this among his proof-texts. The words 
(Luke xxii. 31) are, as they stand in the common version, 
" Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you 
as wheat." What ! sift, really sift, a man ? What sort of a 
sieve would accomplish the operation % Clearly we have here 
again a figure, and a bold one too. A physical process is 
applied to a state of mind. Now what does sifting do % It 
separates the corn from the husk. Such a process is bene- 
ficial and useful. Yes ; but it is a severe process. Here lies the 
point of the metaphor which Jesus intended. When Christ had 
just before said, " The hand of him that betrayeth me is with 
me on the table (of the last supper), the disciples began to in- 
quire among themselves which of them it was that should do 
this thing. And there was also a strife among them which 
of them should be accounted the greatest" (in the coming 
kingdom). A lamentable state of mind indeed ; most lament- 
able and painful was it to all, the Master as well as the dis- 
ciples. Judas had already fallen. Now others are tempted. 
Gross selfishness has the upper-hand, and, as ever, it breeds 
contention and strife. Clearly these men are in danger of 
deserting him whom they are pledged to support. Among 
the most prominent and the most effusive of these excited 
weaklings is Peter. Known by Jesus, Jesus had prayed that 
his fidelity might not break down. But what was he now to 
expect after that dispute and that strife ? The prospect was 
dark. But he would put them on their guard : " Beware, you 
are sorely tempted. I fear for your constancy in my approach- 



SATAN PETER S SCHOOLMASTER. 



179 



ing struggle." Peter replied : "Lord, I ain ready to go with 
thee, both into prison and to death." A few hours after, the 
same disciple said to a woman-servant, " I know him not." 
Here there was a sifting indeed. The grain was violently 
sundered from the husk and the chaff. And the husk and the 
chaff came forward and enacted Peter. 

There are few human beings that have not shared in Peters 
bitter experiences. 

Yet those f experiences were his schoolmaster, and they led 
him to Christ and made him Christ's for ever. 

If, then, I did that which led to such a result, I clearly 
acted against what are said to be my own interests ; for my 
evil was in truth the occasion of the greatest good to Peter. 
Such absurdities ensue from the supposition of a personal 
devil. 

You have seen that when Jesus speaks of sifting, he uses a 
metaphor. In the same connection he speaks of Satan, and 
Satan as desiring to sift : what, then, is the whole but a 
lengthened figure of speech ? If the operation is metaphorical, 
why not the operator ? especially considering that one of the 
men who were to be sifted was himself, not long before called 
Satan by Jesus. " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an 
offence to me" (Matt. xvi. 23). 

I have investigated the scriptural proofs in favour of a per- 
sonal devil adduced by M. Meylan, and found no independent 
evidence thereof. At most, language is used which implies 
my personal existence, but none that cannot be accounted for 
by the usages of the clay. In treating the subject, I have in- 
timated that the parabolic teachings of Jesus are free from the 
Satanical element. An apparent exception asks for attention. 
When, in Matthew xiii., Jesus has uttered what is called " the 
parable of the Sower," he is requested by his disciples to de- 
clare, that is explain, "the parable of the tares of the field" 
(v. 36). This leads him to say: "He that soweth the good 
seed is the Son of Man \ the field is the world ; the good 
seed are the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the 

n 2 



180 



SATAN ONE OF A SERIES OF METAPHORS. 



children of the wicked one ; the enemy that sowed them is the 
devil ; the harvest is the end of the world ; and the reapers 
are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned 
in the lire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son 
of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out 
of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do 
iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall 
be wailing and gnashing of teeth : then shall the righteous 
shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" 
(37—43). 

That in the substance of this passage you have a declara- 
tion of the essentially Christian and most solemn truth of 
God's discriminative and retributory providence as exercised 
in Christ, is beyond a doubt. But in what form % In a 
series of figures.' These figures begin with the titles of the 
parable. It is a sower that goes forth to sow ; and when he 
has sowed, an enemy comes and scatters tare-seed among the 
wheat-seed. The words wheat and tares to denote good and 
bad men are figures of speech. The sowing is a metaphor. 
He that is by a metaphor called a sower, is by another meta- 
phor called "the Son of Man." What wonder, then, that the 
sower of the tares, now made into an enemy, is shortly after 
made into the great enemy, the devil? Add to these two 
metaphors, "the world" for human beings ; " the children of 
the kingdom" for faithful disciples of Jesus ; " the angels" for 
the apostles and their legitimate successors. Next comes the 
metaphor of "the harvest;" then the "kingdom" (of Christ) 
for the Church; then a "furnace of fire" for a guilty con- 
science ; wailing and gnashing of teeth for the pangs and 
throes of conscious guilt ; then sunshine to denote moral 
blessedness ; and the "kingdom of the Father" to signify the 
rule of God in mens hearts and lives. Take the realities thus 
indicated by this passage, and it becomes one of the most- 
solemn and the most momentous ever uttered by Jesus. Con- 
vert these divine realities into the images in which they are 
clad, and you fall into the perishable forms of language which 



IS SATAN IN THE LORD'S PRAYER? 181 

Judea borrowed from mythological paganism. The latter Jesus 
did not originate ; what then really belongs to him ? The 
former ; that is, the everlasting trutb of God. A similar pro- 
cess explains the parable of what is called Dives and Lazarus, 
where the retributions of the world to come are painted in a 
picture, the scenery of which, is borrowed from the current 
Hellenism of the day. 

A passage not adduced by M. Meylan is held by some to 
point to me. It is the last petition in what is called " the 
Lord's Prayer :" " Deliver us from evil" (Matt. vi. 13). It 
is not pretended that the entreaty expressly mentions the 
devil, but that the Greek for " evil" may be rendered the evil 
one, or Satan. A rendering is a very. different thing from an 
affirmation. A translation is the product of a translator, whereas 
an affirmation is the product of the speaker. To make the 
former equivalent to the latter, is to lend the authority of the 
Master to that of the disciple. In other words, it is to deny 
Christ and to put yourself in his place. 

It is true that some translators have recognized me in the 
original, and so in "evil" acknowledged "the devil." But 
how ] Almost exclusively by way of a gloss. It would be 
very difficult to find an instance in which "the devil" was 
placed in the scriptural text. 

The chief point in the issue is, whether the Greek for "evil" 
is of the neuter or the masculine gender. If of the neuter, the 
rendering in the common version is right ; if of the masculine, 
it should stand " the evil one for even then the laws of 
translation do not allow "the devil." Whether the form 
should be taken as masculine or as neuter, nothing in the text 
determines. Accordingly those who go to the passage be- 
lieving in a personal devil, find me there ; those who do not 
take me into the passage, simply leave me out. 

A passage in Matthew's Gospel, however, shews that Jesus 
need not be supposed to have meant the personal devil that 
darkened and troubled the mind of his contemporaries. In 
v. 39, he forbids his disciples to " resist evil," " the evih" 



182 DEAN ALFORD ANSWERS IN THE NEGATIVE. 



Say he meant nie, then he wills that I should have my way 
uncounteracted. This is absurd. The command is to resist 
not — what 1 Aggression. Rather give a kiss for a blow. 

The matter as it stands is clear enough. But there are per- 
sons with whom authority prevails where fact and argument 
fail. I therefore quote the words of the already-cited Biblical 
scholar, Dean Alford :* " In another view, as expressing the 
deep desire of all hearts to be delivered from all evil (for row 

KOVTjpov IS HERE CERTAINLY NEUTER " THE INTRODUCTION OF THE 
MENTION OF 6 THE EVIL ONE' WOULD HERE BE QUITE INCONGRUOUS 

and even absurd), these words form a seventh and most affect- 
ing petition, reaching far beyond the last (' Lead us not into 
temptation'). They are the expression of the yearning for re- 
demption of the sons of God (Rom. viii. 23), and so are fitly 
placed at the end of the prayer, and as the sum and substance 
of the personal petitions. So Augustine very beautifully say- ; 
' When we say, Deliver us f rom evil, we remind ourselves that 
we are not as yet in that good wherein we endure no evil. And 
the last request made in the Lord's Prayer goes so far as this, 
namely, that the Christian man, in whatever tribulation he 
finds himself, groans for this, weeps for this, begins \vith this, 
dwells on this, and terminates his supplication with this : 
'Deliver me from evil.'" 

There are two passages in the New Testament, on which I 
have not spoken, which receive not illustration only, but ex- 
planation, from the fact which has been so fully established, 
namely, that the fall of the angels is a pagan fable that became 
a Jewish dogma, being received in the Jewish Church, whence 
it passed into the Church of Christ. One of these passages de- 
scribes me as a murderer (John viii. 44), the reference being 
to my alleged influence, which Milton describes when he 
speaks of the disobedience of the first pair as having " brought 
death into the world and all our woe," I am a murderer 
inasmuch as, according to tradition, I seduced Eve into sin 

* The Greek Testament, for the use of Theological Students and Ministers, 
Vol. I 56. i vols. London, 1859. 



DEATH A BENEFICENT APPOINTMENT. 183 

which brought universal death. Accordingly I am the great 
manslayer. It is marvellous how far men stray from the truth 
when they yield themselves up to the guidance of ecclesiastical 
speculations. Is it not a fundamental principle of the mono- 
theism of the Bible, that death as well as life is in the hands 
of God? "Jehovah killetk and rnaketh alive' 5 (1 Sam. ii. 6). 
" See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God with me ; 
I kill and I make alive" (Deut. xxxii. 39). If, then, death is 
in God's hand, and in God's alone, it is not in mine. The 
statement is universal, and may be expressed in these words : 
Death is an ordination of Jehovah. The statement finds illus- 
tration in the geological discovery that death was in the world 
long anterior to "the fall." It is also corroborated by the 
manifest fact, that death is in this state of things a corre- 
late of life. jSTo death, no successive life. In other words, 
no death, no human history. Had the first pair (whatever 
their name) given birth to a race of immortals, the earth would 
soon have been peopled to such overflowings as would require 
other planets to receive the inevitable emigrants from our tiny 
globe. But the perpetuation of Adam and Eve's existence 
would have been the perpetuation of their liability to dis- 
obey God, and that liability would, ere many generations had 
elapsed, have been stimulated into actual disobedience by the 
stern and unsparing competition for food which must have 
ensued from an ever-multiplying population of immortals, 
possessed of bodies which somehow or another needed the 
reparation bestowed by nutriment. And so you see that the 
change of which I am made the author, by occasioning death, 
led to a state of things in human society which avoids the 
greatest evils and produces the greatest good. Here, then, I 
stand pre-eminent among the benefactors of your race. If I 
did introduce death into the world, I was the source of forms 
of life and civilization incomparably superior to those of any 
stereotyped existence could have been. I gave birth to pro- 
gress, and progress has raised man out of savage life into an 
approach to the divine life. In thus superseding God's ap- 



184 



SATAN " THE GOD OF POISON." 



pointments, I cease to be mans foe and become his best friend, 
while the Creator is thrown into the shade" by my superabound- 
ing glory. Tell me, then, can it be for the honour of Him 
whom ecclesiastics call the Almighty, that I should have either 
inherent or permissive power to alter the whole course of 
man's existence, so as to transmute evil into good, by giving 
him the faculty of an ever-growing and rising life, instead of 
the stagnation of childish innocence at the best ? Tell me, 
too, if you, my simple-minded listener, do not feel supreme 
satisfaction in thus beholding the idle legends torn to pieces 
by the fingers of fact and common sense ] 

The other passage to which I allude you may find in Hebrews 
ii. 14, where Christ is described as having bv his death de- 
stroyed death, and me, its source. The author manifestly writes 
under the control of the J ewish fable. That cycle of phantasms 
taught that I, as the angel of death, and under the name of 
Samael, slew the protoplasts, and through them their descend- 
ants, over whom, in virtue of their obeying me, I obtained 
the power or dominion of death. The name according to its 
etymology, signifies the God of poison;* and so, you see, specu- 
tio'n contradicts the Scripture quoted above, which, with hun- 
dreds of other passages, asserts that Jehovah is God, God alone. 
According to this figment, the God of creation was defeated 
by the God of poison. In other words, I poisoned, and so 
hilled, God's intelligent creation. This I did at one blow. 
The fall of Eve was the fall of her race. But now, how is it 
with my slayer, Christ ] His death on the cross is said to 
have been my death, and yet I am still alive. I poisoned the 
human race in one moment by a single apple. Christ has 
taken two thousand years to slay the poisoner, and he is not 
yet slain. Xay, if the creeds are right, I never shall be slain, 
for eternal torments stipulate an eternal tormentor. Yf hen 
will the official teachers of religion cease to " teach for doc- 

* Norh : Etymologisck - Synibolisck - Mytkologisckes Eeal - Worterbuch 
under Samael. Eisenmenger : Entdecktes Judentkura, II. 164 ; also tke 
Rabbinical Tracts, Sokar and Pirke Elieser. 



INDIVIDUAL DUALISM SATAN 's BIRTHPLACE. 



18.5 



trines the commandments of men " (Matt. xv. 9), and in so 
doing cease to mislead those they teach, and dishonour the 
God and the Christ whose glory they profess to seek 1 Of 
this a god of poison*' things are said in Jewish tradition with 
which I will not sully your pure ear nor distress your tranquil 
mind, my friend. 

The ease with which I have dealt with these two passages 
may serve to illustrate the advantage of the historical method 
I have pursued, and to aid you in dealing with other similar 
evidences of my real personal existence. 

Before I leave this important portion of my task, I must 
recur to the subject of the dualism out of which I have logi- 
cally and historically sprung, since the view I am now about 
to put before you bears with no small force on the opinion 
held by Christ as to the demoniacs of the Gospel. 

There is a dualism in every individual. Good and evil 
appear in each human being, and often in strong contrast. 
Ifow the good is in the ascendant, now the evil. The con- 
trast extends itself to states of mind, e.g. whether sad or 
joyous. Temper too steps in with its varying moods ; here, 
again, is a contrast as between the bad and the good. These 
diverse dispositions, if tolerated, still more if encouraged, 
acquire great power, and recur frequently, if they do not be- 
come habitual. At last they create, as it were, two persons 
in every individual ; and these two are so different, that your 
friends, when you are at your worst, hardly know you. Ac- 
cordingly they say of you, " He has lost self-control " he 
is no longer master of himself" (sui compos non est) ; " he is 
quite another person." And here is the essential element of 
possession. You are no longer one, but two. Of those two, 
one is yourself, and the other is your master. As your master, 
he is within you. If he is within you, you are possessed by 
him; you are his servant, his slave. 

Language is full of such phraseology. Do you not say, "The 
drunkard is ruled by his passion for drink," as if the drunkard 
and his passion were two persons 1 Is it not said, " Man's 



186 



SATAN BORN OF LINGUISTICAL USAGES, 



vices are his bitterest foes" ? as if the foe were not the man him- 
self. After the same manner you personify conscience : " Your 
conscience condemns you, flogs you, tortures you, 57 as if you 
and your conscience were two "beings. So also your conscience 
may be your accuser, and, in certain states of mind, your false 
accuser, your adversary — in a word, your Satan, your devil. If 
this dualism arises in ordinary corporeal and mental conditions, 
how much more so in disorder of body or mind ! Hence the 
phrases, "he is out of his mind; " " he has lost his wits ;" "he 
is beside himself" (Mark hi. 21) ; and in the New Testament 
as the source of evil-speaking, "he hath an unclean spirit' 5 
(Mark iii. 30). The dualism to which I have now referred is 
not confined to one age or one nation. It has its ground in 
man's inmost nature. Man is at once subject and object. Hence 
the words self, myself, yourself, in contrast with I and you. 
Accordingly you say, " I contemplate myself ; " " Look within ; " 
" Keep yourself pure." And for this second self, language has 
several synonyms : e.g. " Study your own character;" "Look 
on your heart;" " Keep your breast free from guile." At this 
point the word spirit offers itself as our second self. Nu- 
merous instances are found in the Scripture: e.g. "Pharaoh's 
spirit" (that is Pharaoh) "was troubled" (Gen. xli. 8). " Why 
is thy spirit so sad V (1 Kings xxi. 5). " The Lord stirred up 
the spirit of Pul" (1 Chron. v. 26). In these instances, spirit 
is simply a dualistic pleonasm. Caleb, however, is said to have 
"had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully" 
(Numb. xiv. 24). This was a good spirit, in opposition to the 
evil spirit by which the rebellious Israelites were actuated (22). 
The contrast between good spirits and bad runs through the 
Bible : e.g. " a lying spirit" (1 Kings xxii. 22) ; " a spirit of 
divination" (Acts xvi. 16) ; "spirit of antichrist" (Uohn iv. 3) ; 
"spirit of bondage" (Eom. viii. 15); also " thy good spirit" 
(Ps. cxliii. 10) ; " spirit of counsel" (Is. xi. 2); "spirit of truth" 
(John xiv. 17); "the spirit of truth and the spirit of error" 
(1 John iv. 6). It is hardly necessary to add, that Jesus in 
this particular shared in the phraseology of his day : e.g. 



SATAN AX IMAGE OF THE HUMAN MIND. 187 



"The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt, 
xxvi. 21). In this instance, a new form of dualism presents 
itself. Accordingly, man is made up of two beings, the spirit 
and the flesh ; the former, the source of will ; the latter, the 
possessor of control. The diction brings us to the side of that 
used to speak of the demoniacs in the Gospels. For spirit, 
say good spirit ; for flesh, say unclean spirit ; and you not 
only have the language of possession accounted for, but the 
fact explained. The unclean spirit is man's spirit of moral 
impurity, which, weak for good, is powerful for evil. And 
that impure spirit breeds moral disorder, and moral disorder 
occasions impotence ; and when man has lost his moral power, 
he is held and scourged by his own wickedness. For wicked- 
ness, substitute "the wicked one" by an act of impersonation, 
and you have before you the birth, growth and prevalence of 
the ^N~ew Testament possession, so far as man's constitution is 
concerned. Owing to the strong tendencies which sprang up 
under these circumstances, the notion and the recognition of 
a second self arose more or less in all nations, and emphatically 
in tribes and individuals with whom imagination was vivid 
and active. And this natural and inevitable dualism has a 
bad being for one of its constituents. I am. then, the natural 
offspring of humanity. I am an image of the human mind. 

Eut then what at the bottom am I ? When all personifi- 
cation is removed, and figures of speech laid aside, I sink into 
man ; I am a human being, who, as such, has two-fold moral 
tendencies, the one which lift him up, and the other which 
drag him down. Yet in this description imagery intrudes 
itself. To avoid imagery is very difficult, I will, however, 
say that one direction within you injures you, and the other 
benefits you : but even here the inevitable dualism recurs, 
and makes you two somewhats — a " direction" and a "you, 5 ' 
whereas in fact that direction is nothing but a form or state 
of the you, that is yourself. 

With these facts before them, how is it that men have 
ceased to use the language of possession, and to disbelieve in 



188 



JESUS NOT MISLED BY FORMS OF SPEECH, 



"the evil spirit"? Because possession and Satan, though 
springing from human nature, are seen to have their roots in 
forms of speech which are as changeful and perishable as they 
are diversified and contradictory. Other dualistic forms have 
been preserved because, though simple figures, they are useful 
without being injurious, whereas possession, with its accom- 
paniments, has been the most deadly of phraseological inac- 
curacies. 

That Jesus should have taken these films of fancy for per- 
sonal realities is inconceivable. Knowing God and God's 
relation to the universe ; knowing God's moral order in the 
government of the world; moreover, "knowing all men," 
" knowing what was in man" (John ii. 24, 25), and " knowing 
men's thoughts" (Matt. ix. 4), he must have been intimate 
with the human heart and the human mind ; he must have 
been lifted up into oneness of vision with God in regard to the 
great moral powers and forces of the moral universe, so as to 
know that demoniacal possession had not its origin in a fallen 
archangel, and was not inflicted by that alleged infernal power. 
With him, doubtless, it was an opinion, or rather an idiom 
of the day ; an opinion held by others, an idiom as used by 
himself. That idiom he was compelled to employ, since the 
only way for him to get into men's hearts and renew their 
lives was to speak the language which was spoken by his con- 
temporaries. Philosophers do so at the present hour, even in 
the most accurate of all the applied sciences, namely, Astro- 
nomy, when they say "the sun rises" and "the sun sets," 
and that " the moon waxes and wanes." Indeed, the arts and 
sciences in general, inasmuch as they come out of periods of 
ignorance, not to call them children of falsities, are overrun 
with fossil remains of departed theories and opinions, the 
existence of which is unknown except to the students of 
language. 

By no means has Jesus left the immediate cause of evil a 
matter of debate. By a very clear statement and as clear an 
implication, he placed the source of evil in the heart of man. 



WITH JESUS THE SOURCE OF EVIL IS THE HUMAN HEART. 189 

I cite his words: "Xot that which goeth into the mouth de- 
fileth a man ; but that which cometh out of his mouth, this 
defileth a man. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, 
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these 
are things that defile a man" (Matt. xv. 10). Still more em- 
phatic is Mark's report : " There is nothing from without a 
man that, entering into him, can defile him ; but those things 
that come out of him. those are they that defile the man" 
(vii. 15). First, observe here the universal negation : "there 
is nothing f rom without a man that entering can defile him." 
If so, then neither can I defile any one by entering into him ; 
for I am relatively to men "from without." The adverb 
efadey denotes the source or origin of temptation. Then 
observe that, by his assigning man's heart as the origin and 
source of his criminality, he shuts out any and every other 
such origin and source. In using language such as this, could 
he have known and acknowledged a bein^ existing outside 
the human race, who had led them into all crime and all 
wretchedness by entering into Eve and exciting there some 
guilty passion, whatever the schools may assume the impulse 
to have been ] 

And thus my history leads me to record and celebrate 

The Supremacy of Jehovah. 

Jehovah reigns ; let every nation hear, 

And at his footstool bow with holy fear ; 

Let heaven's high arches echo with his name, 

And the wide-peopled earth his praise proclaim : 
Then send it down to hell's deep gloom resounding, 
Through all her caves in dreadful murmurs sounding. 

He rules with wide and absolute command 

O'er the broad ocean and the steadfast land ; 

Jehovah reigns, unbounded and alone, 

And all creation hangs beneath his throne : 
He reigns alone ; let no inferior nature 
Usurp or share the throne of the Creator. 

Mrs. Barbauld. 



190 THE POST-APOSTOLIC AGE KNOW LITTLE OF SATAN. 



BOOK IV. 
PERIOD OF COMPOSITION : ELEVATION, 



CHAPTER L 

MY ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



SECTION I. 

THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. 

I am attempting to interpret in the ear of the world the 
evil consciousness of the human race as felt in certain great 
categories. It would be too bold and painful a task to de- 
scribe it as it exists in certain individuals ; else what portraits 
might be drawn of great political villains and great ecclesiastical 
hypocrites ! Yet such as these, being the personal embodi- 
ments of the lowest human elements, are the true devils which 
degrade and infest humanity. Shrinking from so ungrateful 
a task, I sketch my own history in the impressions given of 
me by writers of greater or less repute. Those impressions 
I reproduce, so far as I can, in their original form, in order 
that my Natural History may stand before the reader in a 
credible shape. The sketches, though made by others, may 
be said to contain my personal experiences. Certainly they 
in union present something like an historical portrait of my- 
self. What the world has thought of me, and what the world 
has made me, these pages directly or indirectly reveal. 

The Shemitic monotheism of the Old Testament passed 
into the writings of the Xew Testament with little adultera- 
tion. Devilism and demonism appeared on the lips of its 



CLEMENS ROM ANUS UNACQUAINTED WITH SATAN. 191 

great representative Jesus only on rare occasions, and then 
only as the language of conventionalism. It is true that "both 
superabounded in the vernacular of Judea, but the foreign 
element was for the most part kept at a distance from the 
fold of Christ by the force of his own pure monotheistic spi- 
ritualism. For a century after his death, it stole into the 
church but little, and that all but insensibly. In the earliest 
of the post-Xew-Testament literature it is least found. A 
series of writings bearing the general designation of "The 
Apostolical Fathers," and whose age extends from the end of 
the first century to the middle of the second, offers authentic 
sources of information touching the early opinions of the 
church as to its central ideas, and in particular as to myself. 
Let us, my young friend, spend a little time in collecting the 
testimonies they supply. 

The first of these is a letter addressed by Clemens Soman us, 
when holding office in the church of Eome, to the church in 
Corinth. The author stands in close proximity to the apos- 
tles. How rigid a monotheist he was may be learnt from this 
fine passage : 

" The heavens, moved by God's management, are obedient 
to him in peace. Day and night run the course appointed by 
him, nowise hindering each other. Sun and moon and the 
choruses of the stars roll on in harmony, according to his 
command, within their prescribed limits, without any devia- 
tion. The pregnant earth, according to his will, sends up at 
the proper seasons nourishment for men and beasts, and all 
the living things that are on it, neither hesitating nor altering 
any of the decrees issued by him. The inexplorable parts of 
abysses, and the inexplicable arrangements of the lower world, 
are bound together by the same ordinances. The vast im- 
measurable sea, gathered together into various basins, accord- 
ing to his fashioning, never goes beyond the barriers placed 
round it, but does as he has commanded. For he said: 'Thus 
far -Shalt thou come, and thy waves shall be broken within 
thee.' The oceans, impassable to men, and the worlds beyond 



192 POLYCARP SLIGHTLY TIXGED WITH SATANISM. 

it, are directed by the same commands of the Lord. The 
seasons of spring and summer and autumn and winter give 
place to each other in peace. The stations of the winds at the 
proper season perform their service without hindrance. The 
overflowing fountains, fashioned for enjoyment and health, 
never fail to afford their breasts to nourish the life of men. 
And the smallest of living things meet together in peace and 
concord. All these the Great Fashioner and Lord of all has 
appointed to be in peace and concord ; doing good to the 
whole, but exceeding abundantly to us who have fled for 
refuge to his mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom 
be glory and majesty for ever and ever. Amen."* 

This calm picture of the universe looks little like the shat- 
tered and distracted world of " the fallen angels," as often 
lugubriously described by modern orthodoxy. 

Not once is my name mentioned or my existence affirmed 
by Clemens Eomanus. Thus far the church of Christ had 
preserved itself from marked demonological taint. 

The next apostolical Father, Polycarp, is known to us 
from the writings of Irenaeus of Lyons, in France (177 — 202), 
who, when he was a boy, saw and heard the venerable man and 
narrated his martyrdom. Polycarp, in dealing with the Docetes 
and the Marcionites of his day, uses these words : " Whoever 
does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is anti- 
christ; and whoever does not confess the testimony of the 
cross is of the devil ; and whoever treats deceitfully the 
words of the Lord to suit his own desires, and says there is 
no resurrection and no judgment, is the first-born of Satan." 
This is the only reference to me left by Polycarp. The ten- 
dency of his remarks makes it a matter of doubt whether 
by the devil he meant an adversary of Christian truth or a 
personal being. The phrase, " the first-born of Satan," is 
manifestly a figure of speech. Whence it is likely that Poly- 

* A Critical History of Christian Literature and Doctrine, from the 
Death of the Apostles to the Nicene Council. By James Donaldson, M. A. 
Vol. I. p. 112. London, 1864. 



TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS. 



193 



carp is answerable in this matter only so far as employing the 
usual imagery of his times. 

The Epistle of Barnabas was probably written by a person 
of that name, but who or what he was, nothing is certainly 
known. The work, however, is Christian in substance and 
spirit, and doubtless presents a specimen of very early Chris- 
tian thought. Free from the cobwebs of Oriental speculation, 
the writer is not free from the demonology of his age. Of 
angels, all that he says is, that good angels are set over the 
way of light to guide men to the truth. The devil and his 
angels are more frequently spoken of. He is said to have the 
power of this age, to be the ruler of the season of iniquity ; and 
the writer is anxious that his readers should be on their guard 
against him, lest he find entrance into their hearts, and ex- 
clude them from the kingdom of the Lord. The action of 
the devil through angels is also referred to. He has angels 
set over the way of darkness to lead men to ruin. The fatal 
errors of the Jews are ascribed to the bewildering and bewitch- 
ing power of an evil angel, and the heart of man before con- 
version is described as a habitation of demons. It is also 
said that all the wicked shall be destroyed with the wicked 
one. 

The Pastor of Hermas — a practical rather than a doctrinal 
work, divided into three books — Visions, Commands and 
Similitudes, and designed to lead the soul to God — speaks 
somewhat of angels, and more of the devil, probably as utter- 
ing the author's own opinions, but possibly as a part of the 
structure and imagery of his artificial composition. Angels 
appear in his pages as employed in some work ; good angels 
in works of goodness, and wicked angels in evil deeds. While 
the story of the fallen angels is not introduced, the reader is 
told that God entrusted the whole creation to six angels, whom 
he first made, to increase and rule over it. Six other holy 
angels are also mentioned who are inferior to the former. 
Those who were first created were also called by God into his 
counsel in regard to the salvation of man. 

o 



194 



OP JUSTIN MARTYR. 



The devil is mentioned especially as the enemy of Chris- 
tians. In their pilgrimage, they are tempted by the devil, 
who lies in wait for them and plans mischief against them. 
Yet Christians are not to fear him. If they put their trust 
in God, the devil will give way. He is hard indeed and sure 
to wrestle, but he must yield. Only those who waver have 
reason to fear the devil. Christians are to fear the deeds of 
the devil. All doubt comes from him ; from him comes evil 
desire. False prophets are rilled with his spirit, which is an 
earthly spirit. He is most wicked. 

This is ecclesiastical commonplace, the language of ordinary 
religious gymnastics, which probably involves an underlying 
recognition of me as a person, but which may be explained 
by the theory of my being a personification of evil, and so an 
enemy of God and man. 

In agreement with Josephus, J ustin the Martyr (145 A. D.) 
believed that the demons were the souls of wicked men, sepa- 
rated from their bodies. This opinion was generally spread 
among the Greek and the Eoman Christians ; nevertheless, 
it did not become dominant in the Church, whose doctors 
almost unanimously taught that the devils were corrupted by 
the abuse of their liberty, and that, falling themselves, they 
introduced sin into the world. It was also the general opi- 
nion that, like the angels, they had bodily forms, but of less 
subtle matter, although less gross, than that of the human 
frame ; for they held that a being that had no body was in- 
capable of punishment. Most of the apologists of Christianity 
affirmed that the devils fed on the smoke of the incense 
offered in idol worship, as well as the odours of the pagan 
sacrifices. This opinion was, however, refuted by Augustin, 
who declared that they fed on human errors, — a diet more 
suited for the mind than the body, and which suggests that 
the saintly Father, who not seldom changed his opinions, and 
was at first even imbued with the Manichean heresy, in- 
dulged in what more robust believers would regard as on this 
point a dusky dreaminess. 



OF IRENyEUS. 



195 



According to the testimony of Irenjeus (177 — 202), the 
Christian Church generally believed in my eternal damnation, 
as well as in that of the fallen angels. The reason assigned 
for the charitable opinion is, that the fallen angels were not 
incited to sin by the flesh, but trangressed through simple 
wickedness, and by the sole act of their will. Some, however, 
among the Alexandrine Fathers, such as Clement, Origen and 
Gregory of Kyssa, ventured to maintain that even for me there 
was hope, as of amendment so of forgiveness, because I am 
a reasonable being, and since every reasonable being enjoys 
liberty to either return to good or to persist in evil. This 
humane idea, which contrasts so favourably with the modern 
horror of the eternity of hell torments, was first combatted 
by Jerome and Augustin, then formally rejected by the fifth 
(Ecumenical Council in 553, and finally condemned by the 
Reformers themselves, out of hate toward the Anabaptists, by 
whom it had been revived. 

It remains to say in this summary a few words on the part 
which the ancient Church ascribed to the bad angels and the 
demons, between whom it established a confused and vacillating 
distinction. It attributed to them knowledge incomparably 
superior to that of men, and a supernatural though restricted 
power. It took pleasure in confounding them with the divi- 
nities of the pagan mythology, accused them of having esta- 
blished idolatry in the world, and of deceiving nations and 
individuals by oracles and prodigies. Specially did it re- 
proach them with the persecutions which Christians had to 
suffer. It also regarded them as the authors of the tempta- 
tions of the members of the Church. It threw on their 
already overladen backs heresies, apostasies, infidelity — in a 
word, all the physical and moral evils that afflict the human 
race, and in me it saw and proclaimed the absolute antagonist 
of God and Christ ; thus ignorantly or thoughtlessly describing 
a house divided against itself, although its great Founder had 
said of such a kingdom, that it could not endure (Matt. xii. 25), 
and as if it had been the aim of its Divine Architect to introduce 

o 2 



196 man's struggle against the devil. 

into it, together with " envying and rivalry, confusion and every 
evil work" (James iii. 16), and forgetting that the Supreme 
Ruler of the universe " is not the author (or the tolerator) of 
confusion, but of peace" (1 Cor. xiv. 33). 

And yet, lest they should overdo their dark work and drive 
their supporters to despair, the ecclesiastics taught them that, 
after all, I was not so very formidable, for that I and mine 
might be put to night by fasts, by prayer, by exorcism, or 
even by the sign of the cross. A struggle indeed was needful, 
and it may be said that man's life, especially his moral life, 
was from first to last a struggle. He had to struggle not only 
against earth, but also hell ; not only against his own passions, 
but against a monster who took a fiendish pleasure in stimu- 
lating them ceaselessly ; so that there was no natural tran- 
quillity, no spontaneous and successive growth in individuals 
or society, but all was turmoil and conflict, leading mostly to 
defeat after defeat, which could be repaired only by the magic 
of priestly incantations. And here in this internal confusion 
there was also an outer confusion of doctrine and exhortation. 
At one moment I was all but omnipotent ; at another I could 
be overcome by a drop or two of holy water. Xow, when it 
suited the purpose of the sacerdotal magician, I was raging 
around a tempted soul, sure to gain my prey by persistence ; 
now I was sent down into interminable banishment by the 
perseverance of a saint ; but only to be brought up again out 
of the abyss to terrify and be overcome or to overcome, and to 
be at last foiled by sacerdotal guile or force. Most repulsive 
as well as most signal was the work assigned to me every time 
a new-born babe came forth from its mother's womb. Then 
and there, no matter how frequent the births, nor how numerous 
the wide world over — then and there, whether in the arctic or 
the antarctic regions, at the equator or at either pole, in Europe, 
Asia, Africa and the two Americas — then and there, at every 
second of time and in every point of space, I had to be present, 
to seize that babe and make it my own by entering into its 
soul and taking possession of it. Yet, be there but an orthodox 



THE CLEMENTINES I — GROSS SUPERSTITION. 



197 



priest at hand, I am the next moment driven out, and he (or 
she) who was a child of the devil, a child of wrath, and under 
its Maker's curse, became (and over three-fourths of the Church 
still becomes) a child of grace, dear to its Creator, and an heir 
of eternal life through the merits of Jesus Christ, andpermissit 
superiorum, or the act of the rector of the parish. In the degree 
in which the darkness of the middle ages grew thicker and 
thicker, the ecclesiastical demonology received fresh develop- 
ments, and superstition established in the popular Christianity 
a veritable dualism, dividing the world between God and me, 
though assigning to me by far the larger share of power and 
dominion. Of these developments I shall give some account 
in their more striking instances. Meanwhile I must finish 
this general outline. 



SECTION II. 

THE CLEMENTINES. 

The Clementines, consisting of the " Clementine Kecog- 
nitions" and the "Clementine Homilies,' 5 and including "the 
Proclamation (or Gospel) of Peter," and "the Travels of 
Peter," if, as their name indicates, written by Clement of Rome, 
are a very early product of Christian thought, which any way 
cannot be brought down later than the beginning of the third 
century.* These pieces I cannot altogether pass over, if only 
that they reflect the thought and spirit of the earlier ages of 
the Church more vividly, if not, on the Judaic side, more 
exactly than any one of the Fathers, inasmuch as they are free 
compositions, or, in plain English, fictions illustrative and 
commendatory of a certain style of Christian thought. They 
also, in their introduction of distinguished names, such as 
Clement, Peter, AndreAV, Zaccheus, &c, exemplify a practice 
by no means uncommon in those early clays, by which atten- 
tion was innocently and almost unconsciously claimed for 

* Die Homilien und Recognitionen des Clemens Romanus, von Gerard 
Uhlhorn. I vol. 8vo. Gottingen, 1854. 



198 



satan's mutability. 



ideas and statements of which the anonymous author and 
authors were the zealous but unavowed advocates. Bearing 
this character, the Clementines serve to throw a strong light 
on some points in which I am deeply concerned, especially my 
alleged connection with magic and the occult sciences. What 
a wonder-worker the magician was held to he may he learnt 
from the account given of himself by Simon Magus, that is 
Simon the Magician, who is mentioned in the book of Acts 
(viii. 9 — 13) as converted by Philip, and rebuked and repelled 
by Peter (18—24) : 

"I am able to render myself invisible to those. who wish 
to lay hold of me, and again to be visible when I am willing to 
be seen. If I wish to flee, I can dig through the mountains, 
and pass through rocks as if they were clay. If I should 
throw myself headlong from a lofty mountain, I should be 
borne unhurt to the earth, as if I were held up. Being shut 
up in prison, I can make the barriers open of their own accord. 
I can render statues animated, so that those who see suppose 
they are men. I can make new trees suddenly spring up, 
and produce sprouts at once. I can throw myself into the 
lire and not be burnt. I can change my countenance, so that 
I cannot be recognized; and I can shew people that I have 
two faces. I shall change myself into a sheep or a goat ; I 
shall make a beard to grow up on little boys ; I shall ascend 
by flight into the air; I shall exhibit abundance of gold, and 
shall make and unmake kings ; I shall be worshiped as God. 
And what need of more words ? Whatever I wish, I am 
able to do. For already I have achieved many things by way 
of experiment. In short, once when my mother Eachael 
ordered me to go to the field to reap, and I saw a sickle 
lying, I ordered it to go and reap ; and it reaped ten times 
more than the reapers. Lately I produced many new sprouts 
from the earth, and made them bear leaves and fruit in a 
moment ; and the nearest mountain I successfully bored 
through."* 

* The Recognitions of Clement, ii. 9. 



SIMON MAGUS A POWER OF GOD. 



199 



Thus powerful himself, the magician, in virtue of his alliance 
with a higher power, exercises unbounded control over angels 
and demons; so at least it is declared in the Clementine 
Homilies (Homily v. chap. v.). 

"I will tell you how the demons are under necessity to 
obey the magicians in the matters about which they are com- 
manded. For as it is impossible for a soldier to contradict his 
general, and impossible for the generals themselves to disobey 
the king, so is it impossible for the demons not to serve the 
angels who are their generals ; and when they are adjured by 
them, they yield trembling, well knowing that if they dis- 
obey they will be fully punished. But the angels themselves, 
being adjured by the magicians in the name of their ruler, 
obey lest, being found guilty of disobedience, they be de- 
stroyed." 

That ruler in some cases is even God himself. So Peter is 
made to teach in the seventh Homily : 

" Simon (Magus) is a power of the left hand of God, and 
has authority to do harm to those who know not God, so 
that he has been able to involve you (the Tyrians) in diseases; 
but by these very diseases which have been permitted to come 
upon you by the good providence of God, you, seeking and 
finding him who is able to cure, have been compelled to sub- 
mit to the will of God on the occasion of the cure of the body, 
and to think of believing, in order that in this way you may 
rave your souls as well as your bodies in a healthy state." 

So, then, I am God's instrument for good to men, and good 
in both body and soul. Like Simon Magus, I am " a power 
of the left hand of God." And this prerogative I claim on 
the authority of him who is the rock on which the Church 
is built. Bow^ down, then, before me, and own in me God's 
instrument, ye popes, bishops, priests, and see to it that ye 
teach the people the doctrine, which is not only as true as 
yours, but more salutary. Moreover, observe the extent of 
power I thus obtain. Sin is universal, and consequently God's 
left hand w r ork is also universal. And as I control the magi- 



200 peter's heresy about "the fall." 



cians, and the magicians control angels as well as demons, my 
power extends from earth to heaven, and spreads throughout 
the heavenly hosts. Even Peter recognizes the power of the 
magician : 

" Simon is a minister of evil to them who know not the 
truth. Therefore he has power to bring diseases on sinners. 
By that evil-working magician, then, you (the Tyrians) were 
stricken with diseases because you revolted from God." 
(Chap. xi.). 

I am, however, not without a fear that exception may be 
taken to the authority I have cited. You are surprised % 
Well may you be surprised, and more ground for surprise will 
you have when you hear what I am about to cite — words 
which I am sure would convict the apostle Peter, the rock of 
the Church, of rank heresy in any ecclesiastical court of Chris- 
tendom. You are not ignorant of the orthodox doctrine of 
" the fall of the angels" and "the fall of man'"? Now listen 
to Peter's statements on these points : 

" The only good God made all things well and handed them 
over to man, who was made after his image, and breathed of 
the Divinity by whom he was made. Moreover, he appointed 
to them a perpetual law. By obedience to the law they had 
all things in abundance — the fairest of fruits, fulness of years, 
freedom from disease and grief, with all salubrity of the air. 
But they, because they had at first no experience of evils, 
being insensible to the gift of good things, were turned to 
ingratitude by abundance of food and luxuries, so that they 
even thought that there is no Providence. But then they 
were overtaken by a certain just punishment, following from 
a certain arranged harmony, removing from them good things 
as having hurt them, and introducing evil things instead, as 
advantageous. This misconduct led the angels to ask God 
to allow them to enter into the life of men, in order to correct 
them. The request was granted. Whereupon the angels me- 
tamorphosed themselves into various natures ; for, being of a 
more godlike substance, they are able easily to assume any 



HOW MEN CAME TO EAT ANIMAL FOOD. 201 

form. So they became precious stones and goodly pearls, and 
the most beauteous purple and choice gold. And they fell 
into the hands of some, and into the bosom of others, and 
suffered themselves to be stolen by them. They also changed 
themselves into beasts and reptiles, and fishes and birds. But 
when, having assumed these forms with a view to the good 
of men, they became in all respects as men • so they partook 
of human lust, and being brought into subjection to it, they 
fell into cohabitation with women, and, sank in defilement, 
became unable to turn back to the first purity of their proper 
nature. Wherefore they have never been able to ascend into 
the heavens again. Wishing to please their mistresses, they 
got charmed stones from the bowels of the earth, and imparted 
the discovery of magic, and taught astronomy and the powers 
of roots • also the melting of gold and silver, and the various 
dyeing of garments. And all things, in short, which are for 
the adornment and delight of women, are the discoveries of 
these demons bound in flesh. But from their unhallowed in- 
tercourse spurious men sprang, much greater in stature than 
ordinary men who were afterwards called giants — wild in 
manners and huge in size, inasmuch as they were sprung of 
angels, yet less than angels, as they were born of women. 
Therefore God, knowing that they were barbarized to bru- 
tality, that they might not, from want of food, turn to the 
eating of animals, rained down showers of manna on them 
suited to their various tastes, and they enjoyed all that they 
would. But, on account of their bastard nature, not being 
pleased with purity of food, they longed only after the taste 
of blood. Wherefore they then first tasted flesh. And the 
men who were with them for the first time were eager to do 
the like. But when irrational animals fell short, men also ate 
human flesh ; for it was not a long step to the consumption 
of flesh like their own, when they had tasted it in other forms. 
The defilements that ensued led God to destroy with a flood 
all men except Xoah and his three sons, with their wives and 
their children. Then God gave a law to them and their de- 



202 A FRAGMENT OF THE LOST WRITINGS OF IREN^US. 



scendants, to the effect that every one who worships demon 5 
or sacrifices to them, or partakes with them of their table, 
shall become subject to them and receiye all punishment from 
them, as being under wicked lords." 

And so you see, my intelligent friend, that w r hile, on the 
authority of Peter, I am exempted from the serpent work which 
orthodoxy attributes to me, I nevertheless exercise all but 
boundless power over men, fallen angels and demons. The 
sole restriction put on that authority is effectual resistance to 
my temptations on the part of God's intelligent creatures, 
whose feebleness is made fully manifest by the account you 
have just heard of the origin of evil from the lips of the 
apostle Peter, who, under Christ, is the head of the Church, 
the infallible Pope included. For myself, I have no complaint 
of injustice or harshness to make against "the Kock;" but I 
do think he has fallen rather heavily on the ladies, and I 
shall be surprised if, in these days of agitation about " women's 
rights," a great number of them do not shew by their seces- 
sion from so ungallant a body as Peter's bachelor Church, 
that they have a better chance of being justly treated by even 
me than by the priests ; wdiile I am sure that I, a most 
maligned potentate, have solid grounds for expecting fair 
treatment from the fair sex. 

A stinted reparation to Eve and her descendants is however 
made in the following extract, one of the " Fragments of the 
lost Writings of Irenaeus," bishop of Lyons in France (177 — 
202), which I quote the rather because it is more temperate 
than most of what is said of me by the ecclesiastical Fathers, 
and will serve as a link in the line in which I unfold their 
demonology : 

"How r is it possible to say that the serpent, created by 
God dumb and irrational, was endowed with reason and 
speech ? For if it had the power of itself to speak, to dis- 
cern, to understand, and to reply to what was spoken by the 
woman, there would have been nothing to prevent every 
serpent from doing this also. If, however, they say again that 



IN "THE FALL," WOMAN WAS THE STRONGER. 203 



it was according to the Divine will and dispensation that this 
serpent spake with a human voice to Eve, they render God 
the author of sin. Xeither was it possible for the evil demon 
to impart speech to a speechless nature, and thus from that 
which is not to produce that which is ; for if that were the 
case, he never would have ceased, with the view of leading 
men astray, from conferring with and deceiving them by means 
of serpents and beasts and birds. From what quarter too did 
it, being a beast, obtain information regarding the injunction 
of God to the man, given to him alone and in secret, not even 
the woman herself being aware of it I Why did it not prefer to 
make its attack upon the man instead of the woman ? And if 
thou sayest that it attacked her as being the weaker of the two, 
I reply, that on the contrary she was the stronger, since she 
appears to have been man's helper in the transgression of the 
commandment. For she did by herself alone withstand the ser- 
pent, and it was after holding out for a while and making oppo- 
sition that she ate of the tree, being circumvented by craft ; 
whereas Adam, making no fight whatever nor refusal, partook 
of the fruit handed to him by the woman, which is an indication 
of the utmost imbecility and effeminacy of mind. And the 
woman, indeed, having been vanquished in the conquest by a 
demon, is deserving of pardon ; but Adam deserves none, for 
he was worsted by a woman — he who in his own person had 
received the command from God. But the woman, having 
heard of the command from Adam, treated it with disregard, 
either because she deemed it unworthy of God to speak by 
means of it, or because she had her doubts, perhaps even held 
the opinion that the command was given to her by Adam of 
his own accord. The serpent found her working alone, so 
that he was able to confer with her apart. Observing her then 
eating or not eating from the tree, he put before her the fruit 
of the forbidden tree. And if he saw her eating, it is manifest 
that she was a partaker of a body subject to corruption ; 6 for 
every thing that goeth in at the mouth is cast out into the 
draught' (Matt. xv. 17). If, then, corruptible, it is manifest 



204 PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE SERPENT VERY SUPERIOR. 

that she was also mortal. But if mortal, then there was cer- 
tainly no curse ; nor was that a condemnatory sentence when 
the voice of God spoke to the man, ' For earth thou art, and 
unto earth shalt thou return' (Gen. iii. 19), as the true course 
of things proceeds now and always . Then, again, if the ser- 
pent observed the woman not eating, how did he induce her 
to eat who never had eaten ] And who pointed out to this 
accursed man-slaying serpent that the sentence of death pro- 
nounced against them by God would not take effect, when he 
said, ' For in the day that ye eat thereof, ye shall surely die"? 
And not this merely, but that, along with the impunity, the 
eyes of those should be opened who had not seen until then? 
But with the opening of their eyes referred to, they made 
entrance upon the path of death." 

Had the writer allowed his own logic to have its full force 
in his mind, he would not have descended to the abusive terms, 
"this accursed man-slaying serpent;" for the tenor of what 
he says goes to shew that the whole story, taken in its ordinary 
acceptation, is untrue, and so to acquit me of complicity in the 
alleged transaction. But here real knowledge steps in to 
utter the most decided and irrefragable "No !" to the narra- 
tive, which breaks down at its centre, and so altogether and 
irreparably. For the serpent, which is that centre, is not now, 
nor ever was, under a curse, but on the contrary shews forth 
the blessedness of the Divine presence in the admirable struc- 
ture with which it is endowed for the fulfilment of the Divine 
purposes. I cite the words of one of the high-priests of 
science : 

"Most annotators to Scripture represent serpents as the 
progeny of a transmuted species, degraded from its original 
form as the penal consequence of its instrumentality in the 
temptation of Eve. Thus Drs. D'Oyly and Mant, in the edi- 
tion of the Bible printed under the direction of the Society 
for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (ed. 1823), write — 
' The curse upon the serpent consisted first in bringing down 
his stature, which was probably in great measure erect before 



SCIENCE CONTRADICTS FABLE. 



205 



this time: 'upon thy belly slialt thou go,' or 'upon thy 
breast,' as some versions have it. Secondly, in the meanness 
of its provision — 6 and dust shalt thou eat ;' inasmuch as, 
creeping upon the ground, it cannot but lick up much dust 
together with its food.' Almost every commentator writes 
under the same impression of the special and penal degrada- 
tion of the serpent to its present form. Eut when the laws 
of the science of animated nature form part of the preliminary 
studies of the theologist, he will appreciate the futility of such 
attempts to expound the symbolic text as if it were a state- 
ment of matter of fact. What Zoology and Anatomy have 
unfolded of the nature of serpents in their present condition 
amounts to this : that their parts are as exquisitely adjusted 
to the form of their whole, and to their habits and sphere of 
life, as is the organization of any animal which, in the terms 
of absolute comparison, we call superior to them. It is true 
that the serpent has no limbs ; yet it can out-climb the 
monkey, out-swim the fish, out-leap the jerboa, and suddenly 
loosing the coils of its crouching spiral, it can spring so high 
into the air as to seize the bird upon the wing ; thus all those 
creatures fall its prey. The serpent has neither hands nor 
claws : yet it can out-wrestle the athlete, and crush the tiger 
in the embrace of its overlapping folds. Far from licking up 
its food as it glides along, the serpent lifts up its crushed prey, 
and presents it, grasped in the death-coil as in a hand, to 
the gaping mouth. It is truly wonderful to see the work of 
hands, feet, fins, performed by a mere modification of its ver- 
tebral column. But the vertebrae are specially modified to 
compensate by the strength of their individual articulations 
for the weakness of their manifold repetition, and of the con- 
sequent elongation of the slender column. But what more 
particularly concerns us in the relation of the serpent to our 
own history is the palaeontological fact, that these ophidian 
peculiarities and complexities of cranial* and vertebral organi- 

* "The bony segments or vertebra? of both the head and the trunk, 
although developed according to the common vertebrate type, are modified 



206 



TRADITIONAL THEOLOGY UNDERMINED. 



zation, in designed subserviency to a prone position and a 
gliding progress on the belly, were given, with their poison 
apparatus, by the Creator, to the serpents of that early ter- 
tiary period of our planet's history, when, in the progressive 
preparation of the dry land, but few, and those only the 
lower, organized species, now our contemporaries, had been 
called into existence — before any of the actual kinds of Mam- 
malia (the class to which man belongs) trod the earth, and 
long ages before the creation of man ! Biblical commentators 
in this matter have erred, knowing only, or believing that 
they knew, the Scripture, and 'not knowing the power of 
God.' The admonition of Christ has been needed in all times, 
and is particularly applicable to the present time."* 

If now, my beloved companion, you cast your mind back 
on the survey I have set before you of the highest ecclesiasti- 
cal authorities — those to whom the Papal and the Protestant 
Church are alike indebted for the substance of their doctrine 
and the form of their worship ; if you carefully observe the 
character of their state of mind, and the diversity in their 
several views and opinions on even central points ; and if you 
receive as true my statement that this is that tradition on 
which the present ecclesiastical organizations "stand at ease," 

for express ends and functions in the several vertebrate species; and in a 
greater degree, for example, in the serpent than in man. The squamous 
principle of suture is here carried out to an extreme. The cranial seg- 
ments of the skull are sheathed one within the other, and the bone in each, 
being of great density and thickness, supplies a special provision against 
the dangers to which it would be subject from falling bodies and the tread 
of heavy beasts. The whole organization of serpents is replete with such 
instances of design in relation to the needs of their apodal (footless) ver- 
miform character : just as the snake-like eel is compensated by analogous 
modifications amongst fishes, and the snake-like centipede among insects." 
Professor Owen in the Lecture described in the next note. 

* "The Power of God as manifested in his Animal Creation : a Lec- 
ture delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association, Nov. 17. 
1863, by Professor Richard Owen, D.C.L., F.R.S.," pp. 21—24. London : 
Longman, 1864. 



milton's description of "the fathers." 207 

as if their ground was solid and their future secure — what 
can you do but adopt, as soon as I repeat it, John Milton's 
concise hut pregnant description of the whole as given in 
these terms : 

" Whatsoever time, or the heedless hand of blind chance, 
hath drawn down from of old to this present in her huge 
drag-net, whether fish or sea- weed, shells or shrubs, unpicked, 
unchosen — these are the Fathers" I add what follows as 
my own apology for reciting to you, and through you to 
others, my own Autobiography : " Seeing, therefore, some 
men deeply conversant in books have had so little care of late 
to give to the world a better account of their reading than 
by divulging needless tractates (e.g., the 'Tracts for the 
Times ') stuffed with the precious names of Ignatius and 
Polycarpus ; with fragments of ol'd martyrologies and legends, 
to distract and stagger the multitude of credulous readers, and 
mislead them from their strong guards and places of safety, 
under the tuition of holy writ ; it came into my thoughts to 
persuade myself, setting all distances and nice respects aside, 
that I could do religion and my country no better service for 
the time, than doing my utmost endeavour to recal the people 
of God from this vain foraging after straw, and to reduce 
them to their firm stations under the standard of the gospel, 
by making to appear to them, first the insufficiency, next the 
inconveniency, and lastly the impiety of those gay testimonies 
that their great doctors would bring them to dote on." * 

* " On Prelatical Episcopacy," Bonn's edition of Milton's Prose Works, 
Vol. II. p. 422. 



208 



FABLES AND FABLES, 



BOOK V. 

PERIOD OF COMPOSITION : DEBASEMENT. 



CHAPTER I. 

MY FABULOUS HISTORY. 
SECTION L 

HOW EVE FELL : THE MOHAMEDAN FABLE. 

" Venerable Teacher, I cannot quite understand what dis- 
tinction you intend when you speak of your 6 fabulous his- 
tory/ is not the whole a fable?" In a certain sense it is. 
My history, considered as the history of a person, is a pure 
fable or an unconscious fiction, the growth of ages of specula- 
tion on the origin of what men call evil. But there are fables 
and fables. Fables vary with their authors ; and never was 
there a greater variety of authors and of fables than in my case, 
" said or suug," as I have been by the Aryan mind as well as the 
Shemitic, in nearly their highest and lowest tones. And it is 
just this variety that I want to put before you, since it involves 
that universality which defeats the claim of the ecclesiastic 
speciality, and establishes the important fact that everywhere 
and at all times men have speculated on the origin of sin and come 
to pretty nearly the same conclusion, whether arrayed in the 
philosophical garb of an Augustin, or enshrouded in an archaic 
Mexican group of figures. It is of this lower element I think 
when I speak of my fabulous history. 'Not a few opinions 
of it have I collected during my travels. I select two as least 
unworthy, while faithfully descriptive of certain states of 



THE MOHAMEDAN ACCOUNT OF "THE FALL." 209 

mind, and of the debasement of conception under which I 
have gone in less ancient times. 

In the midst of paradise there stood a silken tent, supported 
on golden pillars, and in the midst of it there was a throne, 
on which Adam seated himself with Eve. Whereupon the 
curtains of the tent closed around them of their own accord. 
When Adam and Eve were afterwards walking through the 
garden, Gabriel came and commanded them in the name of 
Allah to go and bathe in one of the four rivers of paradise. 
Allah himself then said to them, "I have appointed this 
garden for your abode ; it will shelter you from cold and heat, 
from hunger and thirst. Take at your discretion of every- 
thing that it contains ; only one of its fruits shall be denied 
you. Beware that ye transgress not this one command, and 
watch against the wily rancour of Tblis. He is your enemy, 
because he was overthrown on }^our account ; his cunning is 
infinite, and he aims at your destruction." The newly-created 
pair attended to Allah's words, and lived a long time, some 
say five hundred years, in paradise, without approaching the 
forbidden tree. But Iblis also had listened to Allah, and 
resolving to lead man into sin, wandered constantly in the 
outskirts of heaven, seeking to glide unobservedly into para- 
dise. But its gates were shut and guarded by the angel 
Eidwhan. One day the peacock came out of the garden. He 
was then the finest of the birds of paradise, for his plumage 
shone like pearl and emerald, and his voice was so melodious 
that he was appointed to sing the praises of Allah daily in 
the principal highways of heaven. Iblis, on seeing him, said 
to himself, Doubtless this beautiful bird is very vain ; per- 
haps I may be able to induce him by flattery to take me 
secretly into the garden. When the peacock had gone so far 
from the gates that he could no longer be overheard by 
Eidwhan, Iblis said to him, " Most wonderful and beautiful 
bird ! art thou of the birds of paradise V " I am ; but who 
art thou, who seemest frightened as if some one did pursue 

p 



210 



THE SERPENT EVES PLAYMATE. 



thee ?" I am one of the cherubim who are appointed to sing 
without ceasing the praises of Allah, but have glided away for 
an instant to visit the paradise which he has prepared for the 
faithful. Wilt thou conceal me under thy beautiful wings ]" 
" Why should I do an act which .must bring the displeasure 
of Allah upon me?" "Take me with thee, charming bird, 
and I will teach thee three mysterious words which shall 
preserve thee from sickness, age and death." "Must then the 
inhabitants of paradise die?" "All without exception who 
know not the three words which I possess." u Speakest thou 
the truth ?" " By Allah the Almighty !" 

The peacock believed him, for did he not swear by his 
Maker ) Yet, fearing lest Eidwhan might search him too 
closely on his return, he refused to take Iblis along with him. 
but promised to send out the serpent, who might more easily 
discover the means of introducing him unobservedlv into the 
garden. 

Now the serpent was at first the queen of all beasts. Her 
head was like rubies, and her eyes like emeralds. Her skin 
shone like a mirror of various hues. Her hair was soft like 
that of a noble virgin, and her form resembled the stately 
camel : her breath was sweet like musk and amber, and all 
her words were songs of praise. She fed on saffron, and her 
resting-places were on the blooming borders of the beautiful 
Cantharus (one of the rivers of paradise). She was created 
a thousand years before Adam, and destined to be the play- 
mate of Eve, The serpent ran forth out of the gate, and 
Iblis repeated to her what he had said to the peacock. 6i How 
can I take thee into paradise unobserved ?" " I will contract 
myself so that I shall find room in the cavity of thy teeth." 

When they had passed Eidwhan. the serpent opened her 
mouth, but Iblis preferred to speak to Adam from that place 
of concealment and in her name. 

Arrived at Eve's tent, Iblis heaved a heavy sigh — the first 
which envy had forced from any living breast. "Why art 
thou so cast down to-day, my beloved serpent ?" inquired 



THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT GIVES LIFE AND BEAUTY. 211 



Eve, who had heard the sigh. " I am anxious for the future 
destiny of thee and thy husband," replied Iblis, imitating the 
voice of the serpent. " How % Do we not possess in these gar- 
dens of Eden all that we can desire ?" "The only fruit which 
can procure you perfect felicity is denied you." "Knowest 
thou the reason?" " I do, and it is precisely this knowledge 
which fills my heart with care ; for while all the fruits which 
are given you bring with them weakness, disease, old age 
and death, that is the entire cessation of life, this forbid- 
den fruit alone bestows eternal youth and vigour." "Thou 
hast never spoken of these things until now, beloved serpent ; 
whence derivest thou this knowledge V 1 " An angel informed 
me of it whom 1 met under the forbidden tree." Eve an- 
swered : " I will go and speak with him and leaving her 
tent, she hurried towards the tree. On the instant, Iblis, 
who knew Eve's curiosity, sprang out of the serpent's mouth, 
and was standing under the forbidden tree in the shape of 
an angel, but with a human face, before Eve had reached it. 
" Who art thou, singular being F 1 " I was man, but have 
become an angel." "By what means ?" "By eating of this 
blessed fruit, which an envious God had forbidden me to taste 
on pain of death. I long submitted to his command, until 
I became old and frail ; my eyes lost their lustre and grew 
dim ; my ears no longer heard ; my teeth decayed, and I 
could neither eat without pain nor speak with distinctness. 
I then longed for death, and expecting to meet it by eating 
of this fruit, I stretched out my hands and took of it ; but 
lo ! it had scarcely touched my lips when I became strong 
and beautiful as at first ; and though many thousand years 
have since elapsed, I am not sensible of the slightest change ' 
either in my appearance or my energies." Eve ate and offered 
of the fruit to her husband. Adam refused for eighty years ; 
but when he observed that Eve remained fair and happy, he 
also ate. 

Scarcely had Adam eaten of the fruit when his crown rose 



212 



"DEPART, YE CURSED, 



towards heaven, his rings fell from his fingers, and his silken 
robe dropped from his body. Eve, too, stood spoiled of her 
ornaments and naked before him, and they heard how all 
these things cried to them with one voice : " TToe nnto you ! 
your calamity is great, and your mourning will be long. \Te 
were made only for the obedient — farewell until the resur- 
rection !" The throne which had been erected for them in 
the tent thrust them away and cried : " Eebels, depart I" 
The horse Meimun, on which Adam attempted to fly, would 
not suffer him to mount ; saying, " Hast thou thus kept the 
covenant of Allah I" 

All the creatures of paradise then turned from them, and 
besought Allah to remove the human pair from that hallowed 
spot. Allah addressed Adam in a voice of thunder, and said, 
" Wast thou not commanded to abstain from this fruit, and 
forewarned of the cunning of Iblis, thy foe ?" Adam attempted 
to flee from these upbraidings, and Eve would have followed 
him : but he was held fast by the branches of the tree Talh, and 
Eve was entangled in her own dishevelled hair, while a voice 
from the tree exclaimed : " Prom the wrath of Allah there is 
no escape — submit to his divine decree." "Leave this para- 
dise,'' continued Allah in tones of wrath ; — " both you and 
the creatures which have seduced you to transgress : by the 
sweat of your brow shall you earn your bread : the earth 
shall henceforth be your abode, and its possessions shall fill 
your hearts with envy and malice. Eve shall be visited with 
all kinds of sickness, and bear children in pain. The peacock 
shall be deprived of his voice, and the serpent of her feet. 
The darkest caverns of the earth shall be her dwelling-place, 
dust shall be her food, and to kill her bring seven-fold reward. 
But Iblis shall depart into the eternal pains of helL" 

Hereupon they were hurled down from paradise. Adam 
was flung out through the gate of Eepentance, teaching him 
that he might return through contrition : Eve through the 
gate of Mercy : and the serpent through the gate of Wrath ; but 



INTO EVERLASTING FIRE. 



213 



Iblis through the gate of Curse. And Allah said : " You dis- 
obedient and impenitent ones shall suffer the pains of ever- 
lasting fire, but the faithful shall be blessed in paradise." 

Adam and Eve lamented so loudly, that the east wind 
carried Eve's voice to Adam, while the west wind bore his to 
Eve. 

The tears flowed at last in such torrents from Adam's eyes, 
that those of his right eye set the Euphrates a flowing, and 
those of his left eye, the Tigris. All nature wept with him 
and -entreated Allah for pardon. Allah sent Gabriel to him 
with these words : 

" There is no God besides thee. I have sinned ; but for- 
give me through Mohamed, thy last and greatest prophet.' 5 

As soon as Adam had pronounced these words, the gates 
of heaven flew open, and the angel Gabriel cried, "Allah 
has accepted thy repentance !" 

At the same time the angel Michael was sent to Eve, an- 
nouncing forgiveness to her also. 

Iblis, emboldened by the pardon of the human pair, ven- 
tured also to pray for a mitigation of his sentence, and ob- 
tained its postponement until the resurrection, as well as an 
unlimited power over transgressors who do not accept the 
word of Allah. " Where shall I dwell in the mean time T 
"In ruins, in tombs, and all other unclean places."' "What 
shall be my food ?" " All things skin in the name of idols." 
"How shall I quench my thirst ?" "With wine and intoxi- 
cating liquors." "What shall occupy my leisure hours?" 
" Music, song, love-poetry and dancing." " What is my 
watchword "The curse of Allah, until the day of judgment." 
" But how shall I contend with man ]" " Eor every man that 
is born, there shall come into the world seven evil spirits — 
but they shall be powerless against the faithful.""" 



* Biblical Legends of the Mussulmans, by Dr. Gr. Weil. London, 1846. 



214 SATAN, IN THE SHAPE OF AN OLD MAN, 

SECTION II. 

THE DEVILS WITHSTAND THE APOSTLE ANDREW IN " THE CITY Of 
MAN-EATERS." 

When the apostle Andrew at the command of Christ was 
preaching the gospel in the city of the man-eaters, he was with- 
stood by me in person, whereupon he addressed me in these 
terms : " Woe to thee, the devil, the enemy of God, and to 
thine angels ; for the strangers here who preach Christ have 
done nothing to thee ; and how hast thou brought on them 
this punishment ? how long dost thou war against the human 
race] Thou didst cause Adam to be expelled from paradise, 
and didst cause men to be mixed up with transgression ; and 
the Lord was enraged, and brought on the deluge so as to 
sweep men away. And hast thou made thy appearance in 
this city too, in order that thou mayest expose the men-eaters 
to execration and destruction, thinking in thyself that God 
will sweep away the work of his hands 1 If there be any 
punishment prepared, it is for the sake of taking vengeance 
on thee." 

Behold, the devil appeared in the likeness of an old man, 
and began to say in the midst of all : " Woe unto you, because 
you are now dying, having no food. Rise up, and make 
search for one who has come to the city, a stranger named 
Andrew, and kill him, in order that henceforward you may 
be able to collect your food." 

And Andrew saw the devil as lie was talking to the mul- 
titude, but the devil did not see the blessed Andrew. Then 
Andrew answered the devil, and said, " 0 Belial, most 
fiendish ; thou art the foe of every creature ; but my Lord 
Jesus Christ will bring thee down to the abyss." And the 
devil having heard this, said, " I hear thy voice indeed, and 
I know thy voice, but where thou art standing I know not." 
And Andrew answered, and said to the devil, " Why, then, 
art thou called Samael 1 Is it not because thou art blind, not 



STIMULATES THE MAX-EATERS TO TORTURE THE APOSTLE. '215 

seeing the saints ?" And the devil, hearing this, said to the 
citizens, " Look round now for him who is speaking to me." 
And the citizens, running in different directions, shut the 
gates of the city, but could not find the blessed one. Then 
the Lord shewed himself to Andrew, and said: "Andrew, 
rise up and shew thyself to them, that they may learn my 
power and the powerlessness of the devil that works in them." 
Then Andrew arose, and said in presence of all, " Behold, I 
am Andrew whom you seek." And the multitudes ran upon 
him, and laid hold of him, saying, " AVhat thou hast done to 
us we will do to thee." And they reasoned among themselves, 
saying, " By what death shall we kill him ? If we take off 
his head, his death is not torture \ and if we burn him, he 
will not be food for us." Then one of them, the devil having 
entered into him, answered and said to the multitudes, 
" Fasten a rope to his neck and drag him through the city, 
and when he is dead we will share his body amongst us." 
And they did so. And the flesh of the blessed Andrew 
stuck to the ground, and his blood flowed like water. And 
when it was evening, they cast him into prison, having bound 
his hands behind him ; and he was in sore distress. And in 
the morning they brought him out, and again dragged him up 
and down. And the blessed one wept, and prayed, saying, 
" My Lord Jesus Christ, do not forsake me." And as he 
prayed, the devil walked behind, and said to the multitudes, 
"Strike him on the mouth, that he may not speak" (Acts 
xxiii. 2). And when it was evening they again took him to 
prison. Then the devil, taking with himself seven demons 
whom the blessed one had cast out of the countries round 
about, stood before him, intending to kill him. And the 
demons said to Andrew : " Now hast thou fallen into our 
hands ; where is thy glory and thy exultation, thou that 
raisest thyself up against us and dishonourest us, and tellest 
our doings to the people in every place and country, and hast 
made our workshops and our temples become desolate, in 
order that sacrifices may not be brought to them ? Because 



216 



JESUS APPEARS TO ANDREW. 



of this we will kill thee, like thy teacher Jesus, and John 
whom Herod beheaded. 1 ' And they stood before Andrew to 
kill him. But they beheld the seal upon his forehead which 
the Lord had given him, and fled. 

And the devil said to them, " Why have you not killed 
him, my children V And they answered and said, " We 
cannot kill him ; but kill him thyself if thou canst." 

Then one of the demons said, "Come, let us mock him." 
And they stood before him and scoffed at him. 

And the blessed one wept. Then there came a voice unto 
him, saying, " Andrew, why weepest thou T' And it was 
the voice of the devil changed. And Andrew answered, " I 
weep because God commanded me, saying, 'Be patient."* 
And the devil said, "If thou canst do anything, do it." 
And Andrew answered, " Forbid it that I should disobey the 
command of my Lord ; but if the Lord shall make for me a 
bishopric in this city, I will chastise you as you deserve." 
And having heard this they fled. 

And when it was morning they again dragged him about the 
city. And the blessed one wept, saying, " Lord Jesus Christ, 
be not displeased with me ; for thou knowest, Lord, what the 
fiend has inflicted upon me, along with his demons." Then 
Jesus said to Andrew, " 0 our Andrew, heaven and earth 
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Turn 
thyself, then, Andrew, and behold, thy flesh that has fallen 
and thy hair — what has become of them ?" And Andrew 
turned, and saw great trees springing up, bearing fruit ; and 
he glorified God. The fourth day Andrew's executioners did 
the same. And the Lord appeared in the prison, and having 
stretched out his hand, said to Andrew, "Rise up whole/' 
And he rose up whole. And looking into the middle of the 
prison, he saw a pillar, having on its top a statue of alabaster. 
And Andrew went to the pillar and the statue, and said to 
them, " Tear the sign of the cross which heaven and earth 
doth dread. And do thou, 0 idol statue, bring up much 
water to punish all in this wicked city." Straightway the 



MICHAEL COMES IX A CLOUD OF FIRE. 



217 



statue cast out of its mouth water in great abundance. And 
when it was morning, the men of the city said, "Woe for 
us, because we are dying;" and they began to flee out of the 
city. 

Then Andrew prayed : " 0 Lord Jesus Christ, send Michael 
thy archangel in a cloud of fire, and let him be a Avail of lire 
around the city that no one be able to escape." And straight- 
way a cloud of fire came doAvn and encircled the city like a 
wall. And the water was as high as the neck of the men. 
And they cried out, " God of the stranger, take away from 
us this water." And the apostle said to the alabaster statue, 
"Stop the water, for they have repented. And I say to thee, 
that if the citizens of this city shall believe, I will build a 
church and place thee in it, because thou hast done me this 
service." And the statue ceased flowing. And Andrew came 
out of the prison, and the water ran this way and that from 
the feet of the blessed Andrew. And an old man, who had 
given up his children to be slain to save himself, came and 
threw himself at the feet of the blessed Andrew, saying, 
"Have pity on me." And Andrew answered, "Together 
with this water shalt thou go into the abyss." And the 
blessed one, looking up to heaven, prayed before all the mul- 
titude : and the earth opened and swallowed up the water, 
and the old man along with the water. He was carried down 
into the abyss, together with the executioners. 

And the men of the city, seeing what had happened, were 
exceedingly afraid, and began to say, " Woe unto us, because 
this man is of God \ and now he will kill us because of 
the afflictions that Ave have caused him." And Andrew said 
to them, "Fear not, children, for I shall not send you also to 
Hades, but those have gone that you may believe in our 
Lord Jesus Christ." Then the holy Andrew ordered to be 
brought up all who had died in the Avater. And they Avere 
not able to bring them • for there had died a great multitude 
both of men and Avomen and cattle. Then AndreAv prayed, 
and they all came to life. And after these things he built a 



218 ANDREW, OFFENDED, IS CALLED BACK BY CHRIST, 



church, and baptized the people, and gave them the ordinances 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the men of the city entreated 
him to stay with them. But he went his way. 

And the Lord Jesus, coming down from heaven like a 
comely little child, said, " Andrew, -why hast thou left them 
without fruit 1 Return and remain there seven days, until I 
shall confirm their souls in the faith." Then Andrew turned 
and w^ent back into the city, saying, " I thank thee, my Lord 
Jesus Christ, who wishest to save every soul, that thou hast 
not allowed me to go forth out of this city in mine anger." 
And when he had returned into the city, they rejoiced with 
exceeding joy. And he stayed there seven days, teaching and 
confirming them in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the seven 
days being fulfilled, while the blessed Andrew was going out, 
all came together to him, from the child even to the elders, 
and sent him on his way, saying, " There is one God, the God 
of Andrew and our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone doeth won- 
ders, to whom be glory and strength for ever. Anien."* 

What fatuous credulity have we here ! 1ST0 wonder the 
ages which invented, received, circulated and transmitted 
fictions so monstrous and marvels so absurd, held me to be a 
real person, and propagated their belief over land and ocean 
and down to distant ages ! 

" Is it not a popular legend ?" you ask, Theophilus. Pos- 
sibly so ; none the less gross must the credulity have been. 
There is, however, one redeeming quality in this narrative, as 
in many others of the same kind, viz., the moral glory of Jesus 
is sustained and even thrown into prominence by the deep 
shadows in which it is embedded. And if my moral ugliness 
serves to make his transcendent beauty appear more beautiful, 
I find consolation in the thought, and am content to live on 
if only to aid in bringing about its final supremacy. 



* "Apocryphal Gospels, v kc, in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library. 



PHILOSOPHY RISES AGAINST THE GOSPEL. 



BOOK VI. 

PEEIOD OF COMPOSITION : DEBASEMENT. 



CHAPTEK I. 

MY CONNECTION WITH THE PHILOSOPHERS : APOLLONIUS OF 
TYAXA, THE PAGAN CHRIST : TURNING TABLES AND RAPPING 
SPIRITS IN THE OLDEN TIME. 

The advent of Christ is described by Alilton as fatal to tlie 
superstitions of the pagan world : 

From this happy day 
The old dragon, under ground 
In straiter limits bound. 

Not half so far casts his usurped sway ; 
And, wroth to see his kingdom fail.. 
Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail. 

As a prophetic prolepsis, this is undoubtedly true. As the 
statement of a fact, it is contradicted emphatically by my own 
experience, The immediate effect of the appearance of Chris- 
tianity before the eye of the world was to call forth opposition 
from all the actual powers of society. Alike the philosophic 
and the sacerdotal world rallied and concentrated their forces 
against the invader of their domains. Appealing to my worst 
passions, they invoked and secured my aid. Xo sooner was 
that guaranteed than the black arts assumed unwonted acti- 
vity, and society was afflicted with delusions and marvels 
most numerous and most deadly. The plagues of Egypt were 
renewed by the magicians of civilizatiun. 

Special efforts were made by a philosophy which, losing 



220 APOLLONIUS OF TYANA. 

its reason, became most unreasonable, and, ceasing to be 
divine, became demoniacal. Its entire effort was made with 
a view to withstand and throw back the swelling and advanc- 
ing tides of the religion of Jesus. The labour was Hercu- 
lean, and appeals came to me from all sides for aid in the 
tremendous issue. Then was it that I suggested a personal 
opponent to Christ. Christianity must be withstood with its 
own weapons. Surely philosophy could readily crush the 
babe of Bethlehem. Set Pythagoras in opposition to Jesus. 
Encounter the poverty of the latter with the asceticism of the 
former. Easily could the ethics of the Jewish prophet be 
eclipsed by the morality of the Academy and the Portico. 
And as to the alleged miracles of the gospel, it would be the 
easiest thing in the world for me to make them look tame 
and poor by marvels on the grandest scale and the most 
dazzling splendour. 

Accordingly, with the aid of Philostratus of Lemnos, I 
produced and put before the world Apollonius of Tyana, a 
Greek city of Cappadocia. The pseudo-biographer was a 
member of the literary and cultured circle which had been 
brought together by the wife of Septimus Severus (iV.D. 193 
— 211), Julia Domna, at whose command the book was com- 
piled. I have lately renewed my acquaintance with its con- 
tents, and find that the volume, though a tissue of falsehoods, 
is not without a certain interest, particularly as illustrating 
the infatuation of the imperial court and the stolid credulity 
of the age. As a picture of the times the work is the more 
instructive, since it came forth under high auspices, and in 
its survey comprehends nearly the whole of the civilized 
earth. With a view to interest the reader and make the 
narratives impressive, Apollonius is represented as, like great 
people in modern times, making the tour, not of Europe only, 
but the world. Passing through the chief cities of Greece, he 
repairs to Babylon and penetrates India, accompanied by his 
disciple Damis. Asia Minor, Italy and Egypt he visits. 
Everywhere he seeks for and teaches true wisdom ; everywhere 



HIS TRAVELS OVER THE EARTH. 



2'2\ 



he does his best to sustain or restore the sinking polytheism ; 
everywhere he performs astounding feats of the wonderful. 
The Hindoo sages inhabit the summit of a mountain, whence 
they hurl thunderbolts on the rash men who try to ascend 
thither without their permission. The nearer you approach 
the lofty ridges, the more do you find yourself in the regions 
of the preternatural. It is, for example, an insect which 
produces an oil, from which may be extracted inextinguish- 
able flames wherewith to besiege and capture hostile cities. 
Farther on it is a woman, black in hue from her head to her 
waist, and white from her waist to her feet ; thus coloured 
expressly by nature in order to pay to the Indian Venus the 
homage, which she claims. Elsewhere you come upon fields 
of pear-trees cultivated by monkeys ; and then enormous ser- 
pents, which are taken by extending along the mouth of their 
lair some yards of red linen, imprinted with magical charac- 
ters. In the head of those reptiles are precious stones, whose 
virtue is the same as that of the ring of Gyges, which made 
its wearer invisible. 

At last Apollonius reaches the sacred mountain. It is 
environed by mists which grow thicker or thinner at the will 
of the sage. As you ascend, you meet with a fire which 
purifies from all stain ; a well which utters oracles * two 
large stone vases which contain, the one rain, the other wind, 
both at the disposition of the sage. According to the doctrine 
of the wise, this mountain is the navel of India. There they 
adore the fire which they boast of drawing directly from the 
sun, the prerogative of Prometheus, a symbol for them as well 
as him of inventive science. With his own eyes Damis sees 
those sages rise in the air without support, without any arti- 
fice, to the height of several feet. The sages have no house ; 
when it rains they bring a cloud to shelter themselves with. 
They wear their hair long, white mitres, vestments woven 
from flax, which the earth allows them only to gather. 
Apollonius is disconcerted by their knowledge, and yet he is 
not easily astonished. They possess absolute science. They 



222 



HIS CONVERSIONS AND MIRACLES. 



are familiar with the past of every one they come near. They 
have an answer for every question. When they themselves 
are asked, " Who are you 1" they reply, " Divinities." 
" Why ?" " Because we are virtuous." " This answer ap- 
peared to Apollonius full of sense," continues his "biographer, 
who, among all the virtues with which he credits his hero, has 
some way forgotten modesty. 

Having undergone his initiation into the Indian mysteries, 
Apollonius proceeds to traverse the rest of the earth as a 
prophet and a reformer. Ephesus, a totally frivolous and 
effeminate city, is by his preaching brought back to philosophy 
and virtue. The dissensions of Smyrna are composed by his 
wisdom. Meanwhile Ephesus, infested by a devastating 
plague, invites him back. To deliver the city, he thinks it 
enough to knock an old beggar on the head. When the mass 
of stones under which the beggar lies is raised, an enor- 
mous dog is found in his place. This brute was nothing else 
than an evil spirit, the source of the devastation. Then he 
sets out for Greece. Stopping on his way at Troy, he has a 
conversation with the shade of Achilles, and learns that the 
beautiful Helen was never in the city of Priam. Then he 
visits at Lesbos, the sanctuary of Orpheus ; and disembarks 
at Athens, where he heals a young man possessed of a devil, 
while inveighing against the voluptuous dances of Attica. 
After that, he pays a visit in succession to all the oracles of 
Greece, everywhere presenting himself as a reformer or re- 
storer of the rites. At Corinth he unseals the eyes of one of 
his disciples desperately in love with apparently a very rich 
and beautiful woman, but who in reality was nothing but a 
Lamia, one of those wicked female demons who entrap young- 
men in the toils of love only to devour them at their leisure. 
At Lacedemon lie revives the vigour of the ancient laws. 
At Olympia he takes part in the games, being all but wor- 
shiped by the crowd. Thence he passes into Crete, and from 
there he proceeds to Borne. Xero reigned. The enemy of 
philosophers, he persecuted them under the pretext of their 



HAS RUN HIS CAREER. 



223 



being magicians. In consequence, most of the disciples of 
Apollonius desert him, not daring to encounter the fury of the 
tyrant ; but Apollonius, who fears nothing, enters the capital 
and passes his days in the different temples, where his reli- 
gious discourses produce an immense sensation. Tigellinus, 
the Praetor, has him arrested for sedition ; but, struck with 
his astounding answers, and believing he had to do with a 
devil rather than a man, he sets him at liberty. 

At length his career is run. After his death his native 
city paid divine honours to his memory, and the veneration 
of the whole pagan world bore witness to the indelible im- 
pression left in men's minds by the presence of this celestial 
being, who called forth from his contemporaries the exclama- 
tion, " A god dwells amongst us 1" The life of Apollonius 
suffices of itself to exhibit the extreme ignorance and super- 
stition of the age. I have ascribed my personal existence to 
ignorance, speculation, vanity ; but surely credulity such as 
prevailed in the world during the early centuries of the 
Christian era is of itself powerful and prolific enough to have 
brought me into existence. Xo wonder that in the Church 
and out of it, as there were " lords many," so also were there 
legions of devils. 

Indeed, society became so saturated with Oriental phan- 
tasms, that had I not been long in existence, I should have 
been invented by the third and fourth centuries after the 
birth of Christ. Eegarcled as the father of magic and theurgy, 
recognized in all the arts of the pagan divination, I had the 
world in my hands, all but superseding Providence, and control- 
led and shaped events by laws in direct contravention to those 
of the Creator of the universe. All the sorcerers of the time 
had not, indeed, the power and skill of Simon and Apollonius, 
but they had become so numerous and active in .Rome, that 
the poets of the day complain of them as a pest, and the 
emperors were compelled to issue edicts of expulsion against 
them. The Eoman magicians were masters in their art. They 
went so far as to invent divining tables. As early as Tertullian 



224 



ANCIENT 



AND MODERN SPIRITISM. 



(220), you may find mention made of the magical tables which 
my envoys are said to have employed. 

44 If," says that high Church authority, 44 it is given to 
make spectres appear, to call up the souls of the dead, to force 
infants' mouths to utter oracles ; if those tricksters on a large 
scale imitate miracles which seem due to the circles or the 
chains which persons form one with another ; if they send 
dreams ; if they raise conspiracies \ if they have at their order 
spirit-messengers and demons, under whose control chairs and 
tables which indicate the future are a common fact, — with 
what double zeal will those powerful spirits do on their own 
behalf what they do for the service of others !" 

You see that superstition is a very hard thing to die, A 
personal devil, once brought into existence, still finds that 
existence supported by magical circles, chains, turning tables, 
and rapping spirits. A conspiracy was formed against the 
emperor Flavius Valens, who lived in the fourth century. 
Among the conspirators were many persons of high rank that 
dealt in magic. In their number was a mystic philosopher 
of the school of Alexandria, the celebrated Jamblichus. This 
circle desired to learn who would succeed the reigning em- 
peror, although the curiosity was by law a capital crime. One 
of them, by name Hilarius, delivered the following speech, in 
which he confesses the crime that was laid to their charge : 

44 Magnificent judges, we constructed in the form of the 
Delphic tripod, with wands of laurel, under the auspices of hell, 
this ominous table which you see, and after having, according 
to the prescribed rules, subjected it, during several hours, to 
conjurations and mystic formulas, we at last set it in motion, 
x^ow when we wish to consult it as to secret things, the plan 
to make it move is this : we place it in the middle of a 
room, carefully purified w 7 ith the incense of Arabia, and place 
thereon a round empty basin made of different metals. On 
his feet before it, one of the members of the assembly, skilled 
in magical practices, having conciliated by prayer the support 
of the divinity which inspires prophecies, balances above it a 



SPIRITS UNDER THE CONTROL OF PHILOSOPHY. 



225 



ring duly consecrated. This ring, leaping up and down in the 
intervals of letters which stop it one after another, composes 
heroic verses like those of the Pythoness. We then ask it : 
6 Who is to be the successor of the reigning emperor V and as 
it was said that it would be a man of a perfect education, the 
ring touched in its vibrations the letters which were held to 
indicate the name Theodore. 6 Theodore !' exclaimed the spec- 
tators ; ' Theodore is proclaimed by destiny !' " 

The actors were put to death, and, if the historian, Zonaras, 
may be believed, Yalens also executed all the persons of dis- 
tinction whose names began with the fatal letters. Janiblichus, 
Plotinus, Porphyry, and in general all the philosophers of 
Alexandria, professed to evoke spirits. Their philosophy was 
a theurgy in which names, ciphers, emblems and formulas, 
played a great part. The spirits, including God, thus evoked, 
had only to appear. The supreme object and perfection of 
this philosophy was the union of man with the God that 
filled the world. Plotinus died with these words on his lips : 
" I make my last effort to unite what is divine in me to what 
is divine in the universe." 

Toward the sixth century, no trace remained of the school 
of the Alexandrine mystics ; but their cabbalistic formulas 
had been preserved, and they were added to the treasures 
of the sorcerers on whom the Church, now powerful, made 
ceaseless war during the middle ages and afterwards. 



CHAPTEE II. 

MY CONNECTION WITH THE GNOSTICS AND THE MANICHEANS. 

While in the pagan world I put forth Apollonius of Tyana 
to oppose Christianity in the Church and near the Church, I 
employed the Gnostics and the Manicheans as my allies to defile 
and corrupt the Church itself. And this I did the more easily 

Q 



226 



SATAN WORKS BY SPECULATION. 



because the human mind is ever prone to speculation, and in 
days of ignorance and impulse can hardly escape from pro- 
ducing a swarm of grotesque and heterogeneous figments. 
The topics which I selected for the subjects of these specula- 
tions w^ere equally deep, important and attractive. In their 
most general form they ask, Whence this world of mixed good 
and evil ? How can pure spirit come into contact and hold 
communion with impure matter % What is the source of sin ? 
What will the end of these things be ? Here are dualisms, 
contrarieties and oppositions of a most serious nature, which 
demand, but cannot easily receive, solution. I am myself the 
generally received solution. The human mind, pressed for an 
answer to these momentous questions, produced me, and that 
under various fancied shapes and characteristic names. Thus 
produced and invested with personality, I performed my part 
in the economy of human life, and on the wide area of 
heavenly and earthly movements. Through various human 
beings, e. g. Valentinus, Basilides, Nicolaus, Menander, &c, 
I put forth my demoniacal phantasms, and so augmented, if 
I did not enrich, the prevalent demonology of the Church 
and the world. These dark and fantastic conceptions bor- 
rowed different hues from the minds of my agents, being now 
pantheistic in their tendency, now theistic, and now positively 
atheistic. Whatever their colour, they were all true offspring 
of my nature, considered specially as representing the evil side 
of knowledge. 

"The Gnostics" is a term which, literally rendered, signifies 
the knowers, the knowing ones. Now knowledge, or the thirst 
for knowledge, is good when the motive and the aim are right, 
and when it is sought in due proportion and harmony with 
other natural forces of man's higher life. But knowledge be- 
comes bad when sundered from morals and sentiment, and 
when, owing to partial culture, it degenerates into curiosity. 
Equally mistaken is it in its spirit and researches when it 
tries to force its w r ay into the secret and inaccessible things of 
the universe. Before all, knowledge becomes bad when know- 



SATAN IMBUES THE CHURCH WITH GNOSTICISM. 227 

ing is divorced from doing. Here, however, I must confess 
myself guilty of having charged innocent inquirers with guilt, 
and that, I add with regret, in the degree in which they were 
not only innocent but excellent. My misdeeds in this matter 
were facilitated and shared by the Church officials. Indeed, 
the greatest of my achievements has been to graft myself 
upon the Church, and to work through its agencies. The 
spirit of Gnosticism soon qualified, if it did not in part over- 
power, the Church itself. Having Gnostified the Church, 
I next inoculated it with the spirit of Manicheism. Far 
more successful than I was with the aid of Pagan philosophy, 
which, however, in the shape of Platonism or Aristotleism 
I contrived age after age to make alternately the mould wMch 
gave form and hue to what was called Christian doctrine, I 
transmuted that doctrine from being purely ethical, into being 
purely speculative, with the aid of the spirit and plastic influ- 
ence of those two systems of speculation. 

I must describe the agency I employed a little more exactly, 
by placing the Gnostic principle side by side with the Chris- 
tian. The religion of Jesus is essentially ethical or spiritual. 
Founded on the two family ideas of fatherhood and sonship, 
as taught and exemplified in the words and the life of Jesus, 
Christianity is a moral pow r er, the rule or sway of God and 
Christ in human hearts ; the kingdom of God leading on and 
in to its natural consequence, the kingdom of heaven ; or God 
in conscience, producing in men the blessed life, which, as 
being of God, is the everlasting life. Now the origin and human 
source of that life is not knowledge (yv&tng), but faith (tti*Iq) 9 
that is, loving trust or trusting love. It is the reliance of the 
child on its mother. Consequently it is hungering and thirst- 
ing after God and goodness. And in regard to God, it is the 
continual infusion into the open and receptive soul of the 
rich and pellucid waters of the divine life. Rising thus in 
the inmost relations of God and man, and rising also in the 
instinctive sentiments of the human soul which have God for 
their author, the life that ensues manifests itself as the true 

Q 2 



228 SATAX IS RESISTED BY THE SIMPLE-MINDED. 

life by its natural consequences ; and these consequences are 
so many experiences and so many attestations which "become 
knowledge and assurance of the things of God, the highest in 
kind, the most trustworthy in result. Here is true knowledge, . 
knowledge which is religious not in name, but in reality, and 
knowledge which involves the highest possible human good. 

But such knowledge was too pure, real, ethereal, for the 
dark ages. Its intrinsic worth is only now beginning to dawn. 
Profiting by men's incapacity for the true religion of Jesus, 
I induced them to dethrone pistis (faith ) and put gnosis 
(knowledge ) on the seat of empire. This was a master-stroke 
on my part. What did I but set the Church on an impossible 
task, and in so doing made it spurn and scorn the yoke which 
is easy and the burden which is light? (Matt. xi. 28). As an 
inevitable result, the ecclesiastical leaders gave themselves up 
to speculation, fabricated creeds, anathematized each other, and 
betrayed Christ with a kiss. Most strange of all is it that 
they charged on what I may term out-of-door speculators the 
very system and consequences of the system which had led 
them to eject Christ from his own temple, and later on led 
them to turn that temple itself into "a den of thieves" (Matt, 
xxi. 13). 

I was not allowed to originate and impel the process of de- 
terioration without counteraction. My gnosis was from the 
first quietly, but, though unconsciously, firmly resisted by the 
simple-minded members of the Church, who, knowing and 
finding that love was the fulfilling of the new law as well as 
the old, did their duty in lowly obedience to God and earnest 
service to man, and so passing on from generation to generation, 
became the light of the world and the salt of the earth ; while 
sturdy and impetuous dogmatists like Tertullian and Augustin 
sowed tares among the wheat, and promoted the very spirit of 
speculation which they should have been the first to with- 
stand. The final issue of this systematic perversion of the 
religion of Jesus received completion and consecration in the 
last (Ecumenical Council. But the day that the top-stone was 



SATAN MAKES HERESY THE CAPITAL CRIME. 229 

placed on the edifice of sacerdotal usurpation and corruption 
was the day that sealed its doom and ensured its speedy down- 
fall.* 



CHAPTER III. 

MY CONNECTION WITH HERESY. 

In contrast and, in a measure, in opposition to the specu- 
lative theology of the Church, there appeared in successive 
periods of its history a revival, greater or less, of the religion 
of Jesus, which bears in literature the name of Mysticism, 
and which clerical authority dubbed with the name of heresy. 
Another form of heresy arose from Gnostic tendencies, by 
exaggerating the force and the sway of the intellect in religious 
concerns. These may have involved errors to some extent, but 
they were a natural, and therefore a proper, reaction against 
the falsities of the Church, which ever increased numerically 
and grew larger and more injurious. Bad as this was, the 
Church took a far worse step when, at my dictation, it raised 
heresy into a crime, aud defined the crime as " a pertinacious 
disregard of its authority, leading to impious opinions. "t It 
followed that whatever deviated from the ecclesiastical stand- 
ards was not so much an error as a heresy. The consequent 
evil would have been small, had not the Church effectually 
invoked the sword of the civil power for the assertion of its 
authority. Thus supported, the Church took the last down- 
ward step by setting up a tribunal which, under the name of 
" the Holy Office, 5 ' commonly known as " the Inquisition," 
took cognizance of religious opinions, and stamping with the 

* Histoire des Dogmes Cretiens, par M. Eugene Haag. 2 vols. 4to. 
Paris, 1862. 

t Catechismus ex Decreto Concilii Tredentini. Eighth stereo, edition 
Tauchnitz, 1865, 



230 THE CHURCH MADE INFAMOUS BY THE INQUISITION. 



brand of heresy every free thought, handed the criminals 
over to the stake here and the flames of hell hereafter. That 
I had a hand in this treason against humanity, I do not deny ; 
but I deliberately and emphatically assert that alike in its ruth- 
less principle and in its murderous results, the priest had far 
more to do than the man, and consequently that the huge 
mass of consequent blame lies not so much at my door as at 
the door of the Church. There is another aspect of the origin 
of heresy in which I had little or nothing to do. I will even 
venture to call it the divine side of heresy. Heresy is simply 
choice ; and in the case the choice lay between this opinion 
and that, namely, the opinion which the chooser on inquiry 
found true and that which he found false. Strictly speaking, 
he had no option in such an issue. The conditions of the 
issue determined the preference. All the inquirer had to do 
was to be faithful to his nature and obedient to Him by whom 
it had been made what it was. In this view, heresy is synony- 
mous with honesty. Man's duty to God and to himself and 
to his kind makes the avowal of this and the denial of that 
form of thought imperative. If, however, the prerogatives of 
individual judgment got prevalence, " the authority of the 
Church would soon be at an end/' Aware of its danger, 
sacerdotalism adopted the Herodian policy, and attempted to 
slay every infant in its cradle. 

The atrocities which ensued have furnished to history its 
blackest and most odious page. The details are too horrible 
for me in my present state of mind even to relate. My com- 
plicity in the crimes I admit and deplore. It may serve as 
a slight extenuation on my part to add that, partaking of the 
improved spirit of the age, I have renounced the spirit and 
the practice of persecution ; while there are Roman priests 
(whose names and words I would give had I space) who 
labour for the return of both, and who, expecting it to come 
ere very long, gloat over the agonies which, according to 
them, the guilty will undergo for ever. The criminality of 
papal Rome in this respect is the greater, because her draconic 



THE PERSECUTING SPIRIT STILL LINGERS IN SOCIETY. 231 

code, touching the results of free inquiry, has infected the 
mind and modified the conduct of Christendom. Hardly yet has 
the deadly infection ceased to operate even in the less illiberal 
ranks of English orthodoxy. 80 long as a man's personal and 
social acceptableness is measured by his creed and not by his 
honesty, so long does the leaven of Eomanism work in Pro- 
testant churches. What else but this leaven makes a Dissenter 
intolerable to a Churchman, and a Unitarian intolerable (or 
barely endurable) to a Trinitarian ? In all these relics of 
bigotry I should rejoice exceedingly, were not my temper soft- 
ened and mellowed by purer and nobler influences that float 
almost imperceptibly in the social atmosphere which I breathe, 
and which lead me to claim uncurtailed and unqualified free- 
dom of thought and speech for every man on every topic, and 
particularly on the subject of religion. One condition, an 
indispensable condition, of the existence and free enjoyment 
of this liberty, is the utter extinction of the spirit and power 
of orthodoxy. So long as any one holds his own opinions to 
be essential to salvation in time and in eternity, so long will 
persecution survive in some form and admit of a certain sub- 
jective justification. The proof (if proof were needed) is sup- 
plied by the acts of persecution committed by some of the 
great leaders in the Lutheran Reformation. Take as an illus- 
tration the ensuing letter written by Farel, pastor of Xeuchatel, 
to Calvin, to encourage the ecclesiastical despot of Geneva to 
put Servetus to death : 

" The arrival of Servetus in Geneva is an admirable dis- 
pensation of God. May he repent even at the last hour ! It 
will certainly be a great miracle to see him undergo death in 
a sincere spirit of conversion, and to force himself to edify 
the spectators — him who has willed to destroy so many souls. 
Yes, the judges will be not only cruel but hostile to Christ, 
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ; they will 
be true enemies of the Church, if they remain insensible to 
the horrible blasphemies by which that execrable heretic insults 
the Divine Majesty and endeavours to overturn the gospel of 



232 PROTESTANT BIGOTRY RIOTS IN PERSECUTION. 

Christ and to corrupt all churches. But I hope that God will 
inspire those who so well know how to punish robbers and 
the sacrilegious, and lead them to act in this business in such 
a way as v 7 ill bring them just commendations ; and that they 
will put to death a man who has persisted in his heresies 
wuth so much obstinacy and destroyed so large a number of 
souls. Thy desire that his punishment should be mitigated 
is a friendly service rendered to one who is thy most mortal 
foe ; but I beg thee to act in such a w 7 ay that in future no 
one shall publish new doctrines and try to shake all foun- 
dations, as Servetus has done. Cast your eyes on that insolent 
heretic, Jerome Bolsec, w T ho, though .often overcome in argu- 
ment, has not yet been brought to reason ; the indulgence of 
his judges, rather than equity, leading them astray from their 
duty, has done injury not to Servetus only, but to many 
others . However, thou art well informed of all this ; but there 
are people who would let heretics alone, as if there w T ere no 
difference between the functions of a minister and those of a 
magistrate. Because the pope condemns Christians for the 
crime of heresy ; because enraged judges subject innocent 
persons to punishments reserved for hereties, it is absurd to 
conclude that the latter ought not to be put to death in order 
to guarantee Christians from harm. For me, I have often 
declared that I was ready to die if I had taught anything 
contrary to sound doctrine ; and I add that I should be worthy 
of the most terrible punishments if I turned any one away 
from the true faith in Christ. I cannot then apply a different 
rule to others. — Xeuchatel, 8th September, 1553." 

JTor was this horrid judgment unsupported. The churches 
of Switzerland, being formally consulted, gave a unanimous 
opinion as to the theological culpability of Servetus, and 
differed solely as to the degree of his punishment. 

While the cause at issue protracted itself, owing to a variety 
of circumstances, the innocent martyr suffered horribly in 
prison. Witness this most distressing letter : 

" Magnificent Lords : — It is now three w T eeks since I asked 



SERVETUS BURNED IN THE NAME OF THE TRINITY. 233 



the favour of being heard, and asked in vain. I beseech you, 
for the love of Jesus Christ, not to refuse me what you would 
not refuse a Turk. I beg only for justice. I want to say to 
you things of importance, things necessary to be said. 

"As to your order that something should be done to keep 
me clean, it has had no effect, and I am in a fouler condition 
than ever. Besides, I surfer exceedingly from the cold, espe- 
cially on account of my colic and my rupture, which occasion 
me sufferings that shame prevents me from putting on paper. 
It. is a great cruelty that I am not allowed to speak to you of 
my necessities. For the love of God, my lords, or for pity's 
sake, or from a sense of duty, give the needful order. Written 
in your prison of Geneva, the 10th of October, 1553." 

The mitigation of the punishment desired by Calvin was 
the sword instead of the faggot. 

The definitive decision of the Council is expressed in the 
following extract from the sentence it pronounced : 

" Moved by these and other considerations, and desirous of 
purging the Church of God from such infection, and of cutting 
off so rotten a branch, having consulted our fellow- citizens, 
and invoked God's name that we may pronounce a right 
judgment, and having the Scripture under our eyes, we, in 
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Ghost, decide definitively and condemn thee, Michael Servetus, 
to be bound and conveyed to the square of Champel, to be 
there chained to a post and to be burned all alive, together 
with thy book, until thy body be reduced to ashes ; and thus 
shalt thou finish thy days, to give an example to others who 
may incline to similar crimes. 

" And we command you, our lieutenant, to carry our decree 
into execution." * 

The officer obeyed. This official crime was committed in 
the dawning presence of modern toleration, and has incurred 

* Relation du Proces Criminel intente a Geneve en 1553, eontre Michel 
Servet. Paris : Cherbuliez. 



234 THE PRIESTS OF ROME WORK BY SATAN AND HELL. 

such severity of rebuke as to make similar enormities impos- 
sible. 

Let every one concerned therein, and every abettor thereof, 
learn from me to cover themselves with the sackcloth and 
ashes of profound humiliation. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

MY CONNECTION WITH THE PRIESTS OF ROME. 

The priests, by working with and on the weak and the 
bad side of human nature, having made me what I am, 
naturally employed me for their purposes. How could they 
turn me to account so well as by spreading among their flocks 
such stories of my influence and operation as would at once 
delude and terrify at least the multitude 1 This they have 
freely done ; this they continue to do at the present hour. 
But for this, their power would have been at an end long since ; 
and when the priests are gone, I shall exist no longer in 
human society ; though the real devil will not disappear until 
men, nor least kings and princes, have renounced all connec- 
tion with folly and fraud. 

The following examples of the services which priestcraft has 
exacted from me rest on high sacerdotal authority :* 

" These morals and these practices sustained in all minds, 
if not the fear or the love of Satan, at least the thought, so 
that it was not possible for him to be forgotten. The moralists 
profited by him to correct immoralities by ideas which cir- 
culated everywhere ; they made frightening pictures of the 
Satanic power, of the acts of divine vengeance, of the pun- 
ishments of the other life, and put them into apologues." 
King Dagobert first enters on the stage. A Sicilian monk, 

* Histoire de Satan, par M. l'Abbe Lecanu. 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1861. 



TO SERVE THE CHURCH IS TO ESCAPE FROM HELL. 235 

by name John, saw his soul in the hands of the devils. The 
story is told by Ayrnoin.* This prince, who is surnamed 
"The French Solomon," was not always integer vitce, or pure 
in his conduct. Accordingly on his death my imps carried 
away his soul in their infernal bark, when the saints Denys, 
Maurice and Martin, disputed the possession of it with them. 
It was agreed by both the claimants that a new trial should 
take place, that the king's good actions should be carefully 
weighed against his bad ones, and that the decision should 
determine his fate. Now Dagobert had built the fine church 
which bears the name of Saint Denys, where his remains 
were deposited. The legal proceedings assumed a threatening 
aspect, when an official hand threw into the lighter scale the 
grand Abbey. Forthwith that scale kicked the beam ; and 
the saints hastened to convey their prize into paradise, singing 
as they flew, "Blessed are they whom TJiou hast chosen and 
called into Thy everlasting habitations." 

A solid reason why men of bad lives should not die before 
they have built a church, an abbey, or at least a chapel ! To 
serve the Church is to escape from hell. 

Does this pious consideration still linger on earth under the 
fostering care of even Protestant priests 1 Certainly it is 
quietly approved by my authority, whose words I resume : 

" This story, more moral than graceful, an inelegant com- 
pound of pagan and Christian ideas, was destined to inspire 
the hand of artists for ages. The subject is represented on a 
great number of monuments, among others on the tomb of 
the prince at Saint Denys." 

The substance once provided, nothing more was required 
than imitation and embellishment. However, the imagination 
did not flourish in those sterile ages ; little progress was made 
in this matter, and always and everywhere it was the same 
theme. Invention, then, could do nothing else than give the 
old tale a new dress. An application of it was made to Char- 
lemagne. Here it is under its new face : 
* De Gest. Franc, iv. 34. 



236 CHARLEMAGNE RESCUED BY THE CHURCH. 

Turpin, archbishop of Kheiins, one of the best friends of 
the magnanimous emperor, being one day engaged in prayer 
after saying mass, heard a noise in the street so great that he 
ceased his supplication in order to inquire what was the cause. 
He found it proceeded from a troup of devils going to take 
part in the trial of Charlemagne, who had just died, in order 
to claim his soul. The archbishop made them promise to 
report to him the result, and resumed his prayer. But lo ! 
0 admirable efficacy of prayer and good works ! Saint Michael, 
Saint Dionysius and the apostle Saint James, come up in time 
to compel the devils to leave hold of their pre}', and putting 
in the good works' scale the stones, the wood and the other 
materials that Charles had used in constructing churches, 
houses of charity, monasteries, and the large sums of silver and 
gold he had spent in endowing them and furnishing them 
with costly furniture, it appeared that the good carried the 
day over the ill ; and the devils had no alternative but to 
retire in shame and confusion, being maltreated by the by- 
standers. 

This form of the history was also touched up and reproduced 
in later days, being used of other personages, among whom 
Gervais, a successor of Turpin in the see of Eheims, plays an 
important part. 

Charles Martel furnished but too many grounds for such 
"apologues." Accordingly he was damned without remission, 
and, what is more remarkable, damned in body as well as 
soul. Saint Eucher, bishop of Orleans, received information 
to that effect by revelation. With a view to confirm the 
revelation, Fulrade, first chaplain to Fepin le Bref, having 
inspected the bier of the lost monarch that he might assure 
himself if the body was really gone, found the body of the 
coffin burnt, and saw there only a great serpent, which van- 
ished in an ill-odorous cloud. 

The English moralists possessed something better than 
this, i. e. terrible descriptions of purgatory and hell. The 
Venerable Bede, the first to speak of these, relates that one 



ECCLESIASTICAL FIREWORKS. 



237 



of his fellow-countrymen, named Drithelme, having been 
miraculously recalled to life, terrified his contemporaries by 
the recital of what he had seen in purgatory. There — such 
was his representation — you saw deep vales filled with flames, 
and high mountains covered with snow and ice ; thousands 
of souls, alternately plunged in the fires and in the snow, 
underwent frightful tortures while waiting to be delivered 
by the prayers and good deeds of the living. So much was 
Drithelme alarmed by what he had seen, that he passed his 
second life in the most austere penance, declaring that the 
severest labour was pleasant in comparison with those tortures. 

If I am not misinformed, fireworks of this kind are not, 
even in the year 1870, unusual, if not on the part of " English 
moralists," certainly of English preachers. 

A fabulist took it into his head to attribute to Charles le 
Chauve an ectasy, during which he traversed purgatory and 
hell under the direction of an angel, who tied to the king's 
hand an Ariadne thread, for fear he should lose himself in 
the alleys and crossings of those vast and cloudy labyrinths. 
There he saw the grandest personages and the strangest mar- 
vels, but marvels which far outstrip those that the pagans 
tell of the black Tartarus and the domains of Pluto. Tan- 
talus, Ixion and Sisyphus, the Danaicles, are trifles in com- 
parison. The story is intended for a lesson to bad kings, 
greedy ministers of state, ambitious courtiers and prelates of 
irregular lives. 

Charles did not learn much from his adventurous course, 
or at least he did not profit greatly thereby, for a short time 
after he was himself found in purgatory by another fabulist, 
The king, in a most pitiable condition, lay sunk in an infec- 
tious dung-hill, covered with ulcers, eaten up by worms, half- 
clad in rags, his hair and beard in disorder. In sad terms he 
commended himself to his visitor, whose name was Berthold. 
Moved with compassion, the literary man, as soon as he was 
on earth again, paid for masses to be said for the peace of the 
monarch's soul. The prince received consolation, as was as- 



238 



A LUCRATIVE TRADE IN MASSES. 



certained afterwards, for Berthold made frequent visits to 
purgatory. There he often saw some of the loftiest personages 
of the day — bishops, kings, statesmen. He expounded to the 
living the reason of the tortures endured by those illustrious 
dead ones, and had masses said on their behalf. 

Every one of which put something into the pocket of the 
clergy, the pay being made beforehand. And if the demand 
for masses was then as great as it is now, the wholesale trade 
therein which is driven at present was probably driven then. 
In most Catholic circles on the continent there is one popular 
priest. As popular, he carries on a large trade in masses, and 
gets a good price for the work. Indeed, on account of his 
spiritual influence, he has entrusted to him far more masses 
than he could say were he to spend in the task every minute 
of every four-and -twenty hours. What does he do 1 Leave 
them unsaid % 0 no ! the holy man has a conscience. Con- 
sequently, hired himself to say the masses, he hires others, and 
so does the work by proxy. At the same time he puts money 
into his pocket ; for a mass which brings him in a guinea, he 
can get said by an inferior hand for a shilling. Where's the 
harm ? He gets rich, and the dwellers in purgatory are none 
the worse. 

In the way of money-making, I feel and own my inferiority 
to the priests. 

The celebrated history of the conversion of Saint Bruno, 
consecrated by so many monuments and by the legends of 
•certain Breviaries of the fifteenth century, was written in order 
to deter men from wrong-doing by the fear of me, whom, it 
was believed, none but the priests could keep in check. A 
funeral service was being said for a doctor of the university, 
who had been a free liver. His name was Eaymond. The 
bier was placed in the choir of the church. When the reader 
came in one of the lessons to the words, Eesponde mihi, 
Answer me, the dead man sat up and said, " I am accused 
before the just judgment of God." The officiants were awe- 
stricken, and the service was interrupted. The next day the 



FEAR OF SATAN BUILDS A MONASTERY. 



239 



ceremony was resumed, when the dead man again sat up and 
said, " I am judged according to the just judgment of God." 
Fresh alarm, fresh interruption. The scene was repeated the 
third day, and called forth these words : " I am condemned 
by the just judgment of God." A consultation being held on 
the prodigy, it was resolved to refuse ecclesiastical sepulture 
to one already in Satan's hands. The event, however, was 
not profitless. One of the spectators, overcome with fear, 
vowed to bid adieu to a wicked world, and to pass the rest of 
his life in rigid penitence. He sold his property, and with 
the product established the famous monastery of Chartreux, 
near Grenoble in France (1084). 

A more poetic tale is told by Oderic Vital of a vision seen 
by a priest of the diocese of Lisieux, named Gauchelme, 
which has for date the year 1091. Gauchelme, returning 
from the duty of bearing extreme unction to some sick per- 
sons, traversed a forest by night, when his attention was 
struck by a loud noise at a small distance. Curiosity over- 
coming fear, he approached and hid himself. Then he wit- 
nessed a scene which literally made his hair stand on end. 
There passed before his eyes a long procession of damned souls, 
among whom he recognized distinguished personages lately 
deceased — prelates and abbots, monks and seculars, high 
barons and lowly villagers, merciless masters and shameless 
valets, haughty knights, unjust judges, disloyal warriors, 
women without modesty and licentious poets, lying courtiers, 
tyrannical country squires, and I know not what scoundrels 
besides. The profaners of sacred places, the robbers of widow r s 
and orphans, the arrogant, the worldly, the intemperate — all 
the bad ones, have their representatives there. But all of 
them are miserably equipped for travelling ; mounted on 
horses of fire, burning like iron at white heat, which bear 
them along with the speed of the whirlwind and without a 
moment's pause or rest — onward, ever onward in a ceaseless 
gallop ; while the horsemen strain, but strain in vain, to pull 
the fiery coursers in : no ! onward ! onward ! w 7 ith you, ye vile 



240 WHO IS STRONGER THE PRIEST OR THE DEVIL % 

firebrands of Satan ! They try to tear from their hands those 
bracelets, those jewels from their heads, those laurel wreaths 
and those crowns, from their feet those spurs, from their 
shoulders those armlets, from their bodies those coats of mail, 
all of gold and set with precious stones, yet all blazing with 
the inextinguishable fire of hell ; but no ! the burden of their 
bravery weighs them down ; they sink in flames under their 
glittering load ; they sink, but they do not disappear • they 
sink and they rise, they rise and they sink, until they have 
passed down and entered the gates of the ever-burning man- 
sions of the damned ! 

With such stories "the Golden Legend" and the Service- 
books of the Church of the day are literally filled. The priest 
and the devil ruled and ravaged the civilized earth (if the 
epithet is not a sarcasm). Yet, when I pleased, I was too 
powerful even for the priests. Witness the Legend of 

The Old Woman of Berkeley. 

The Raven croaked as she sat at her meal, 

And the old woman knew what he said ; 
And she grew pale at the Raven's tale, 

And sickened and went to her bed. 

"Now fetch me my children, and fetch them with speed, 1 ' 

The old woman of Berkeley said ; 
" The monk my son, and my daughter the nun, 

Bid them hasten, or I shall be dead." 

The monk her son, and her daughter the nun, 

Their way to Berkeley went, 
And they have brought with pious thought 

The holy sacrament. 

The old woman shrieked as they entered the door, 

And she cried with a voice of despair, 
" Now take away the sacrament, 

For its presence I cannot bear." 

Her lip it trembled with agony, 

The sweat ran down her brow ; 
"I have tortures in store for evermore, 

But spare me, my children, now." 



THE OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY. 



241 



Away they sent the sacrament ; 

The fit it left her weak ; 
She looked at her children with ghastly eyes, 

And faintly struggled to speak. 

<f All kind of sin I have rioted in. 

And the judgment now must be ; 
But I secured my children's souls ; 

Oh ! pray, my children, for me J 

4< I have anointed myself with infants' fat. 

The fiends have been my slaves, 
From sleeping babes I have sucked the breath, 
And breaking by charms the sleep of death, 

I have called the dead from their graves. 

4t And the devil will fetch me now in fire, 

My witchcrafts to atone ; 
And I, who have troubled the dead man's grave, 

Shall never have rest in my own. 

* 4 Bless, I entreat, my winding-sheet, 

My children, I beg of you ; 
And with holy water sprinkle my shroud. 

And sprinkle my coffin toe, 

4 ' And let me be chained in my coffin of stone. 

And fasten it strong, I implore, 
With iron bars, and with three chains, 

Chain it to the church floor. 

4C And bless the chains and sprinkle them, 

And let fifty priests stand round, 
Who night and day the mass may say, 

Where I lie on the ground. 

e< And see that fifty choristers 

Beside the bier attend me, 
And day and night by the taper's light 

With holy hymns defend me. 

'* Let the church bells all, both great and sinaiL, 

Be tolled by night and day, 
To drive from thenee the fiends who come 

To bear my body away. 

(i And ever have the church -door barred 
After the even -song ; 

R 



242 



THE OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY. 



And I beseecli you, children dear, 
Let the bars and bolts be strong. 

" And let this be three days and nights, 

My wretched corpse to save ; 
Till the fourth morning keep me safe, 

And I may rest in my grave." 

The old woman of Berkeley laid her down, 

And her eyes grew deadly dim, 
Short came her breath, and the struggle of death 

Did loosen every limb. 

They blest the old woman's winding-sheet 

With rites and prayers due, 
With holy water they sprinkled her shroud, 

And they sprinkled her coffin too. 

And they chained her in her coffin of stone, 

And with iron barred it down, 
And in the church with three strong chains 

They chained it to the ground. 

And they blessed the chains and sprinkled them, 

And fifty priests stood round, 
By night and day the mass to say 

Where she lay on the ground. 

And fifty sacred choristers, 

Beside her bier attend her, 
Who day and night by the tapers' light 

Should with holy hymns defend her. 

To see the priests and choristers, 

It was a goodly sight, 
Each holding, as if it were a staff, 

A taper burning bright. 

And the church bells all, both great and small, 

Did toll so loud and long ; 
And they have barred the church-door hard, 

After the even-song. 

And the first night the tapers' light 

Burnt steadily and clear ; 
But they without a hideous rout 

Of angry fiends could hear : 

A hideous roar at the church -door, 
Like a long thunder peal ; 



THE OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY. 



243 



And the priests they prayed and the choristers sung 
Louder in fearful zeal. 

Loud tolled the bell, the priests prayed well. 

The tapers they burnt bright ; 
The monk her son, and the daughter the nun, 

They told their beads all night. 

The cock he crew, the fiends they flew 
From the voice of the morning away ; 

Then undisturbed the choristers sing, 
And the fifty priests they pray ; 

As they had sung and prayed all night, 
They prayed and sung all daw 

The second night the tapers' light 

Burnt dismally and blue, 
And every one saw his neighbour's face 

Like a dead man's face to view. 

And yells and cries without arise 

That the stoutest heart might shock, 

And a deafening roaring like a cataract pouring 
Over a mountain rock. 

The monk and nun they told their beads 

As fast as they could tell, 
And aye as louder grew the noise 

The faster went the bell. 

Louder and louder the choristers sung 

As they trembled more and more, 
And the priests as they prayed to heaven for aid, 

They smote their breasts full sore. 

The cock he crew, the fiends they flew 
From the voice of the morning away ; 

Then undisturbed the choristers sing. 
And the fifty priests they pray ; 

As they had sung and prayed all night, 
They prayed and sung all day. 

The third night came, and the tapers' flame 

A frightful stench did make ; 
And they burnt as though they had been dipt 

In the burning brimstone lake. 

r2 



244 



THE OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY. 



And the loud commotion, like the rushing of ocean, 

Grew momently more and more ; 
And strokes as if a battering-ram, 

Did shake the strong church-door. 

The bellmen, they for very fear 

Could toll the bell no longer ; 
And still as louder grew the strokes, 

Their fear it grew the stronger. 

The monk and nun forgot their beads, 

They fell on the ground in dismay ; 
There was not a single saint in heaven 

To whom they did not pray. 

And the choristers' song, which late was so strong, 

Faltered with consternation, 
For the church did rock as an earthquake shock 

Uplifted its foundation. 

And a sound was heard like the trumpet's blast, 

That shall one day wake the dead ; 
The strong church -door could bear no more, 

And the bolts and the bars they fled ; 

And the tapers' light was extinguished quite, 

And the choristers faintly sung, 
And the priests, dismayed, panted and prayed, 
And on all saints in heaven for aid 

They called with trembling tongue. 

And in he came with eyes of flame, 

The devil to fetch the dead, 
And all the church with his presence glowed 

Like a fiery furnace red. 

He laid his hands on the iron chains, 
And like flax they mouldered asunder, 

And the corfln lid, which was barred so firm. 
He burst with his voice of thunder. 

And he bad the old woman of Berkeley rise, 

And come with her master away ; 
A cold sweat started on that cold corpse, 

At the voice she was forced to obey. 

She rose on her feet in her winding-sheet, 
Her dead flesh quivered with fear, 



DEMONOLQGY EVERYWHERE, 



245 



And a groan like that which the old woman gave 
Never did mortal hear. 

She followed her master to the church-door, 

There stood a black horse there ; 
His breath was red like furnace smoke, 

His eyes like a meteor's glare. 

The devil he flung her on the horse, 

And he leapt up before ; 
And away like the lightning's speed they went, 

And she was seen no more. 

They saw her no more, but her cries 

For four miles round they could hear, 
And children at rest at their mothers' breast 

Started and screamed with fear. 

Southey. 



CHAPTER V. 

MY CONNECTION WITH MEN OF LETTERS. 

Having possessed myself of the vulgar great as well as of 
the refuse of the world, I am now about to assume dominion 
among the men of science and literature. The story is long 
and my time is short. I can give only one or two instances. 

The eighth to the twelfth centuries are steps up to the 
throne of my empire. Everywhere magic and similar pseudo- 
sciences, everywhere demonology. Can I not boast of such 
scholars as Pope Sylvester II., Albert the Great, St. Thomas, 
Pierre d'Ailly, Roger Bacon, Arnauld de Yilleneuve ? True, 
rigid and exacting theology forbad the black arts, but how 
easy for me to nullify the prohibition ! Mine were the think- 
ers, the great souls of the age. They even thought they were 
throwing the powers of hell into chains, while in reality I 
held them in my hands and employed them at my pleasure. 
Belief in magic was universal. God was replaced by Satan ; 
or at least the latter was acknowledged by the side of the 



246 FROM THE EIGHTH TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 



former. At the voice of trie enchanter, the tempest sank, 
the waves grew calm, the skiff glided safely over the waters, 
or the winds broke their chains, and, traversing the ocean, 
"bore me their master on their tranquil back. A breath ex- 
temporized armies ; at a breath they vanished. When the 
magician spake, tigers lost their ferocity and reptiles their 
venom. 

False science and true were strangely blended together, if 
indeed the distinction was really recognized. The employ- 
ment of magic was a ground of distinction. The author of 
U Ymage du Monde is seriously annoyed at any that speak ill 
of the science of sciences. " They are," he says, " mere igno- 
ramuses who dare to calumniate what they do not possess, 
simply because not only do they not possess it, but. are igno- 
rant of its intrinsic virtues." 

During the tenth century, so sterile in appearance and so 
little given to letters, the following centuries received their 
life and were prepared for their birth. Then took place in 
the intellectual world a process of transformation, producing 
materials for a new literature, new moral conditions, a new 
mental world. It was the interval between the acts which 
allowed a completely new arrangement behind the scenes. 

Two fabulous chronicles, filled with demons, composed during 
that century, became the starting-point of the literature of 
the following ages \ that of the pseudo-Turpin, the origin of 
the numerous romances of Charlemagne, and that published 
by Geoffry of Monmouth, the origin of the still more nume- 
rous romances of " The Round Table." The elements of these 
fictions were miracles, relics, the intervention of angels, saints, 
demons \ themes taken from Christian history ; enchantments, 
magic, traditional giants, fashionable dwarfs, fantastic appa- 
ritions, deeds of martial heroism. In the midst of this diabolic 
literature two currents appeared, which, diverging at the first, 
united afterwards. In France, magic had the ascendency ; in 
England, fairy lore ; and the latter absorbed the former. In 
France, the chronicle, the legend, the romance, present no- 



MEN OF LETTERS IN PAY OF THE PRIESTS. 



'2U 



thing but enchanters and the most disgraceful figures of demons. 
Demonology was universal. It even forms the substance of 
works of asceticism. Pierre le Venerable relates in his letters 
the following incident which, as he states, befel a Count de 
Macon, a great devastator of churches and monasteries, an 
impious blasphemer and a persecutor of the monks. He was 
surrounded by his court, when a tall black man suddenly 
presented himself, requesting to speak to him in private. The 
Count, free from distrust, went out unattended. ISTo sooner 
had he passed the threshold than he was requested by the 
stranger to try the mettle of a black horse which stood there 
saddled and bridled. Quietly mounting the beast, he was 
immediately hurried away, not over the earth, but through the 
air, preceded by his ravisher. The Count was heard to utter 
cries, shrieks, requests, importunities. All in vain. Onward 
rushed the black man ; onward rushed the black horse. The 
Count was seen no more. The Count's son was forthwith 
smitten with hate toward a sinful world. He turned monk, 
and was followed by thirty of his knights, weary of life and 
repentant like himself. 

Clearly enough the men of letters had taken pay of the 
priests, and turned me to their own advantage. 

It would require pages to characterize the half-historical, half- 
fictitious works which exhibited this part of society in conflict; 
that in collusion, and the third in compact, with myself, during 
this period. I can only select an illustration here and there. 
LaLegendeDoree (The Golden Legend) of Jacques deVoragine, 
just mentioned, describes among other things Saint Anthony 
assailed by the seven deadly sins in the form of seven devils, 
and reducing a lion in appearance, but me in reality, which 
had attempted to devour his monks, to serve in the monastery 
in character of a penitent. Then there is the story of Saint 
Patricius and of his famous Irish purgatory. Moreover, the 
reader is edified with the historiette telling how Saint Margaret 
scourged the demons. Another is the story of Saint Christo- 
pher, who, submitting to be my valet, served me for long years 



ROMULUS AND REMUS OVER AGAIN". 



in the deserts of Ethiopia. Robert of Lincoln, in his Tresor 
de VAme (The Soul's Treasure), amplifies the marvels of the 
under-ground purgatory of Saint Patricius. Other amplifica- 
tions of the Treasury gave pictures of purgatory so vivid, that 
pilgrims took the matters in earnest, and by thousands in- 
quired their way thither. 

I must also mention Le Livre des Saints Anges (The Book 
of the Holy Angels), composed by the Franciscan monk Fran- 
cois, who died in 1392, which gives the curious law-suit of 
myself versus Christ. 

The romance of Les Faits MerveUJeux de Virgile (The 
Miraculous Deeds of Yirgil) affords a curious and striking 
instance of the way in which in credulous ages fictions become 
facts, and dealers in magic, princes of hell, thus illustrating how 
I, who am but human nature mirrored in language, pass for a 
malignant being, second in power to God himself. 

The hero of the story is a son of Eemus. \Yhile he is 
studying magic in the college of Toledo, Eomulus resolves to 
take possession of his inheritance ; but, informed of the fact 
by his imps, the young magician returns in time to foil his 
uncles nefarious designs. During a year, the nephew, aided 
by diabolical resources, plays, like a cat with a mouse, on 
Eomulus so effectually, as to reduce the founder of Eome to 
so miserable a condition, that he is compelled to own hmiself 
overcome, and to allow the youth to enjoy his rights in peace. 
Then the latter, acting in full liberty, passes his time in fall- 
ing in love with damsels in parts very distant from himself 
and from each other. He marries the daughter of a Sultan 
of Babylon, and travels on aerial bridges, of which clouds form 
the buttresses. As a mere game of play, he founds the city 
of Naples, erects in it a column, on the top of which he places 
a talismanic blue bottle, which will preserve the city from all 
winged insects. He erects at one of the gates two statues, one 
of which bears for name, Joyeuse st Belle (Beautiful and Joyous), 
the other, Triste etHideuse (Ugly and Sad). \Yhoever enters the 
city by the former succeeds in all his affairs ; whoever enters 



THE MAGICIAN'S TALKING HEAD. 



'249 



the city by the second is condemned to universal failure. 
Another statue, made of brass, is in reality a trumpet, through 
which the winds, when high, rushing in fury, lash the sea 
into a rage, and drive the poisons of the Puzzeoli marshes down 
into the ocean. He constructs a huge brazier holding constant 
fire, whose heat protects the inhabitants against the chills of 
night. A second statue of brass is armed with a bow and 
arrow, ready for use, which will extinguish the fire if the 
arrow is discharged, and it discharges itself if the bow is but 
touched. Long did it remain untouched, till at last a sim- 
pleton put his finger on the bow. The fire at once went out, 
and thousands perished from the cold. 

If, however, I wished to describe what a magician may be 
and do under my assistance, I should have to tell of a huge 
mirror which reflects all the deeds and thoughts of every 
inhabitant of a whole city. But this was never in great 
request, most people preferring to have no spies over their 
persons and their breasts. There was a greater demand for a 
bronze horse, which cured brother horses when sick by casting 
a look upon them. Still more in fashion was a talking head, 
which reported to the magician all he wanted to know. You 
have only to go to Xaples, and you may hear from the native 
cicerone all about these and other marvellous contrivances. 

I may add en passant that it is by speaking heads of gigantic 
dimensions that I become acquainted with men's thoughts and 
deeds. Of these " gentlemen of the press," vulgarly termed 
reporters, I have one placed in each of the four quarters of 
hell, corresponding to your four quarters of the globe. They 
communicate with me either separately or through the medium 
of a central head, whence I learn at the same moment what 
is thought, said or done in any and in all parts of the inha- 
bited earth. 

Fictions as extravagant as this readily obtained credence in 
the dark ages, which in consequence greedily swallowed all that 
was told them by priests or poets respecting me and my concerns. 

Do you doubt this ] Then know that in the twelfth cen- 



250 



"the devil and dr. faustus.' ; 



tury the "Marvellous Facts of Virgil" had become history for 
the Neapolitans, as you may learn if you will read a narrative 
written by John of Salisbury, as well as the Life of Saint Guil- 
laume, founder of the Abbey of Montvierge. Indeed, you 
need go no further than the name Yirgil itself. This hero of 
romance was confounded with the poet of Mantua. In the 
twelfth century the confusion was complete. The same took 
place in later days with another name. 

The tale is worth telling. In order to gain credence, the 
fabricator entered into particulars. J ohn Faust, the celebrated 
magician and necromancer, was born at the end of the fifteenth 
century, in the country of Anhalt. He first studied at Ingol- 
stadt in Bavaria, then at \Vittenberg in Saxony, acquiring 
all the knowledge of the age — theology, jurisprudence, philo- 
sophy, astronomy, and giving special attention to the occult 
sciences, such as astrology, chiromancy, demonology. A wealthy 
relative having bequeathed him a large fortune, he gave himself 
up to all kinds of excess. Impoverished thereby, he sold his 
soul to me, who, as the fiction runs, appeared to him under 
the form of a grey friar, named Mephistophiles. By the com- 
pact, he gave me right of possession over his body and soul, 
on condition that I would serve his purposes during twenty- 
four years. Accordingly, my slave succeeded in everything 
he undertook. He even wrought miracles profusely. The 
hour came for his delivering himself up to me : but instead 
of doing so like an honest man, he decamped. Thus another 
villain was thrown on society, and I was cheated of my prey. 
The people laughed and the priests chuckled. To do the 
devil was clever and frolicsome. I have said the tale was 
worth telling. My reason was, that it depicts the spirit of 
the age. Xone the less is that spirit depicted in the fact 
that so manifest a fiction passing into history made my frau- 
dulent creditor identical with Faust (or Fust), the goldsmith 
of Mayence, who shares with Guttenberg and Schaffer the 
honour of having invented the art of printing. I may also 
remark that the detection of this transition confirms my doc- 



FANCIES OBJECTIVATE THEMSELVES. 



251 



trine that I am only human nature with its black side named 
and personified. 

In a similar way I have been called Satan so long and so 
much, that I am now taken for the devil everywhere • and I 
fear I shall have no end of trouble to cleanse myself of the 
mud which has been thrown upon me in consequence. 

However, one reason why I have written this history is 
supplied by the hope I have of finally obtaining justice by 
becoming known in my real character as a reflex of your own 
mongrel humanity. " A fellow-feeling," it is said, "makes one 
wondrous kind ;" and so, when men know that I am nothing 
better nor worse than themselves, they will probably, in learn- 
ing to pity, cease to blacken me, in spite of all that ignorance, 
credulity and superstition, may do to the contrary; though 
I have my fears when I call to mind that the memory of the 
great inventor of printing is not yet thoroughly washed from 
so deep a stain. 

My narrative has taken an argumentative tone. Pardon 
my weakness (it is — is it not ? — thoroughly human) if I pursue 
my self-justification a little farther. 

How can it be otherwise than that strong and impressive 
fancies, when they are in unison with the spirit of an un- 
tutored period, should imprint themselves on the mind in 
sharply and deeply cut images, which, while mere images, 
re-acting on men and manners, increase ignorance and intensify 
superstition, until, finding a concrete form in writing, and 
passing from lip to lip in family circles during long winter 
evenings, they at length assume the shape of reality, and soon 
become current in something more historical than " Historical 
Romances"? The history of England, which has done so 
much toward making England what it is, was written by 
William Shakspeare ; and Walter Scott's History of Scotland 
in his novels, not his " Grandfather's Historical Stories," have 
rendered Scotland a familiar and delightful reality all over 
the world, even in these cold and sceptical days. 

One more illustration from the middle ages. 



252 



THE POPE AND SATAN. 



Gerbert, a young monk of Aurillac in France, whose birth 
is half-Satanic, flees from his convent to go to study the occult 
sciences in the University of Toledo. Already advanced in 
that study, he finds it easy to deceive the confidence of the 
tutor under whom he places himself, and again runs away, 
carrying with him a work on magic, which he has stolen from 
his master. The professor, informed of the escape, calls to his 
aid his astrological knowledge, and pursues the fugitive, under 
indications supplied by the stars. Gerbert has recourse to 
the same art, in order to evade his pursuer. The pupil, how- 
ever, proves inferior to the teacher. Gerbert is on the point 
of being caught, when he tries a masterly trick. In order to 
interrupt the scent in virtue of which the latter tracks the 
former, he suspends himself under the vault of a -bridge, and 
there remains, like Mohamed's coffin, between earth and 
heaven. The learned and skilful hunter gives up the chase. 

Thus at liberty, Gerbert returns into France, and makes 
good use of his science and his volume to climb to honours 
and dignities. As a final and infallible means of success, he 
makes a covenant with me (the parchments can be produced 
before a duly-qualified tribunal !), and with my aid encloses 
one of my cleverest young fellows in a speaking head, by 
which he keeps in constant communication with me, and I 
with him. 

Aided by my best resources, he even becomes Pope, and 
sits in the chair of Saint Peter, with as good a right as most 
others who bear the name. However, I am not fond of giving 
unconditioned titles. Absolute realities are managed with 
difficulty, and so Gerbert is not to say mass in Jerusalem. 
Now there was at that time of day, in the centre of the Campus 
Martius at Rome, a statue w T hich bore this inscription, Strike 
he?°e, pointing with its finger to some distant place. Curiosity 
was excited. "Where was it ? What was it ? Many struck 
the statue itself. Many struck the ground in different parts. 
Gerbert, with a wiser head, carefully traced the spot to which 
the finger pointed. There he struck, and there he dug, until 



THE POPE'S CONTRACT ENFORCED. 



253 



after untold labour he came upon a subterranean palace, built 
of gold, with gold furniture and gold statues. The principal 
hall was lighted up by a gold chandelier which gave forth a 
body of light equally soft and brilliant. 

How does the pope's heart leap and bound for joy ! Here 
are treasures literally inexhaustible. He resolved forthwith 
to send a whole wagon-load to Rome. The wagon is obtained, 
the horses are harnessed, the servants proceed to carry away 
the articles which Gerbert prefers. Not one of them will 
move. There they stand as if riveted to the spot by adaman- 
tine bars and bonds. In his extremity, the pope consults his 
magical Eible. He consults it, but gains no light. 

He falls into a rage, and bids the slaves tear the things from 
their place. They lay their hands on a capacious bag of gold. 
But that moment a golden archer, standing in a corner of the 
hall, shoots an arrow which extinguishes the lights of the 
splendid candelabra, and leaves the whole in. darkness as black 
as that of winter midnight. The bag of gold is dropped. Then 
the lights rekindle of themselves. Again the servant's hand is' 
on the bag, and hardly has he touched it when again the lights 
go out. Seized and frozen with terror, Gerbert and his fol- 
lowers hasten from the ill-omened spot. 

He closed the mouth of the cavern, and made his way to 
Jerusalem. Arrived there, he was tempted to say mass on 
the very spot where his divine Master had suffered crucifixion. 
Had he not once before done the same, and nothing had come 
of it ? Was he to be afraid of Satan ? he who was the repre- 
sentative of Christ and the organ of the Holy Spirit on earth ? 

He enters the Church of St. John of Jerusalem outside 
the walls of the city of David, and begins the sacred seiwice 
full of holy courage. Clad in pontificals and attended by a 
large choir in procession, bearing crosses the most elaborate 
and glittering, he ascends the steps, kneels at the altar, and 
opens his Missal. Ere he can utter a word, he is struck dumb 
and prostrate by a rushing wind howling with infernal cries, 
and shouting, " Your soul is forfeit ! your soul is forfeit ! Once 



254 HOW LEGENDS BECOME FACTS. 

you did succeed to break your oath. Once you received a 
warning in the golden cave. Xo more indulgence. Your end 
is come !" 

The pontiff was taken up and carried home. Conscience- 
stricken, he remembered the contract into which he had 
entered with me. Yes ; he had gained the great object of 
his ambition by my aid, and having broken faith with me, he 
knew he must die. 

But he was a perfect master of magic. Might he not save 
his soul from my hands ? He gives his last commands in due 
form and according to the prescriptions, saying : "As soon as 
the breath is out of my body, cut it in pieces and scatter them 
over and around this chamber. They are baits which Levia- 
than cannot resist. You will see him either here or there in 
the shape of a crocodile. Fall on him, put a ring in his nose, 
and confine him in the deepest crypt of the Church of Saint 
John." 

I was, however, too wily to be caught by so worthless a 
thing. Instead of my occupying those vaults, Gerbert lay 
there : that is, what remained of him lay there. And there, 
the credulous say, he lies still in a marble tomb, the prophetic 
perspiration of which has never ceased to foretel to the eternal 
city, now the death of its pontiffs, and now the evils with 
which they are threatened. 

This legend, some features of which are reported by Car- 
dinal Eenon in his Life of Pope Hildebrand, considered as 
historical already, less than a century after the death of the 
veritable Gerbert, is narrated by Sigebert, who died in 1112, 
and in much greater detail by William of Malmesbury, who 
died in 1 141. In the following century it became unquestion- 
able history. Yincent de Beauvais, Helinand, Alberic, Martin 
Polonus, reproduce it as such unhesitatingly. 

Why, then, may not I, a mere figment, have become in 
men s apprehension a veritable fact ? And as that transforma- 
tion has been detected and exposed, may not my personality 
return into the aerial state out of which it grew 1 



WHY SO MANY WITCHES, 



253 



CHAPTEE VI 

MY CONNECTION WITH WITCHCRAFT. 

The thirteenth century brought me to the verge of my 
supremacy. From that time until the days of Luther I revelled 
in power surpassing even that of the Pope himself. Indeed, 
the Pope's authority stood on mine. Had there existed " a 
solemn league and covenant" betwixt him and me, he could 
not have advanced my kingdom more than he did, nor could 
I have promoted his with more zeal and effect. It was a 
period of dense and all but universal darkness. Ideas and 
practices were then prevalent, even among the less ignorant, 
which, taking the government of the world out of the hands 
of its Maker, put it under the control of astrologers, necro- 
mancers and magicians, who, at once deluded and deluding, 
exercised dominion on earth through infernal powers, and 
turned nature itself into one wide arena of preternatural com- 
batants, on which man was tossed and beaten about as is the 
foot-ball in country sports. Indeed, the gaunt figure of Super- 
stition raised herself between earth and heaven ; and from 
her attitude in the clouds, no less tempestuous than black and 
frowning, hurled down on individuals, societies and nations — 
in a word, the entire (so-called) civilized world — fiery and 
consuming thunderbolts, the missives of her unappeasable 
wrath. ]STot easy is it to understand how human life was, 
under the overwhelming torrent of the consequent disaster, 
endured, upheld and transmitted. 

Xaturally, men looked to the Church, for succour and con- 
solation. The Church was in alliance with their deadly foes. 
The battle-ground on which " Science falsely so called" and 
" Mother Church" arrayed their combined forces against 
human beings, was the fabled crime of witchcraft. Here my 
heart, overladen with blackest recollections and heaviest mis- 
deeds, sinks within me, all but crushed with the horrible 



256 



AS COMPARED WITH WIZARDS. 



load. I plead guilty. Miserable am I in the thought how 
readily and how fully I lent myself to those innumerable 
barbarities. But then who is. at the bottom to blame ? The 
substance itself, which lay in the vices of humanity, and not 
the shadow under whose name popes, kings, judges and com- 
monality, raged against an incriminated class of persons who 
were really as innocent as the new T -born babe. And if I feel 
justified in claiming extenuation on the ground of being but 
an instrument, I must in justice add that ecclesiastical cruelty 
and civil injustice, though they were my masters and em- 
ployers, may in their turn justifiably claim to be only acces- 
sories to the great criminal, society itself, which, maddened 
with frightful phantoms of all sorts, rushed, as is its wont, 
into cruelties the most atrocious, in which it revelled even for 
centuries. 

In this horrid crusade against itself, society spared neither 
high nor low. Popes, kings, princes, were scourged with 
rods made by their own hands. The crime and punishment 
of witchcraft was indiscriminately universal. Nevertheless, 
the weak suffered most. You read of few wizards, while 
witches are innumerable. Nor was this mortal preference 
totally blind. Maleficavum totus fere est globus, dicitur enim 
femina a fe et minus, quia semjier minor em habet et servat 
fidem, et hoc ex natura ; that is, " Witchcraft is all but 
exclusively in the hands of women ; the very name Woman 
itself denotes a faithless thing ; besides, woman has and keeps 
less faith than man, and this faithlessness has its roots in her 
nature." Certainly, man, availing himself,of his superior brute 
force, has inflicted many injuries on woman ; but never, within 
my reading, did he put so much of insult and injustice into 
a charge as is contained in the reason he here assigns for the 
gigantic and monstrous persecutions he has carried on against 
witches. 

Here is a versified form of a description of the common 
parish witch : " An old woman with a wrinkled face, a furred 
brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking 



WHAT IS A WITCH ] 



257 



voice and a scolding tongue, having a rugged coat on her 
back, a skull-cap on her head, a spindle in her hand, and a 
dog or cat by her side." 

A witch is one who has entered into a covenant with Satan 
on certain conditions, namely, he undertakes to serve her in 
one point or in many, provided she puts her soul into his 
power. This is the essence of witchcraft. With the concep- 
tions entertained of my despotism and my resources, the pre- 
valence of compacts of this nature put the world into my hands 
to use and abuse at my pleasure. What, then, is such an 
agreement but a denial of Heaven and the Church 1 Heaven 
and the Church accordingly are against the contracting parties, 
who are guilty of high treason, terrestrial and celestial. But 
the celestial power has delegated its juridical functions to the 
sacerdotal, and the sacerdotal, wielding that awful authority, 
feels the need of a ruthless system of criminal jurisprudence, 
else its own interests and the interests of heaven will pass 
into my hands. Hence war to the knife between the Church 
and Satan. Aware of the extreme magnitude of the issue, 
the Church deliberately and carefully prepares for the con- 
flict. What better could it do than assume the shield of 
Scripture, one word of which was known to possess power to 
put me to flight ? Accordingly, Moses is brought on the 
field, and heard to declare that witches and wizards, being 
abominations in the sight of God, must be extirpated by 
the Church, God's representative (Deut. xviii. 10, seq.). Here 
was unquestionable and unquestioned authority for a holy war 
against witchcraft. But where are the legions, officers and 
men, who will implicitly receive and faithfully obey the orders 
of the supreme pontiff, the god on earth, whose throne is on 
the seven hills 1 The Dominicans and the Inquisition come 
into existence at the Pope's command for the purpose. The 
army is organized and fully equipped for the war ; the enemy 
is exactly described — his crimes and his punishments. And 
the dogs of war are let loose, rabid with ecclesiastical fury 
and begirt with irresistible civil power. The war, which has 



258 



PAPAL CRUSADE AGAINST WITCHCRAFT, 



scarcely ended yet, went on for many centuries with increasing 
rage and ruin. Of all the wickedness and folly which human- 
ity has committed, none equals this deadly crusade in terror 
and desolation. Yet none so groundless. The whole, from 
first to last, was a huge and frightful delusion. So barefaced is 
the deception on all sides, that everywhere beyond the dark- 
est spots of papal darkness and despotism, the very name of 
witch, once so terrible, is now an object of contempt, scorn 
or derision. "What, then, are the factors of this huge and 
devastating imposture 2 The Pope on one side, Satan on the 
other, and debased and down-trodden humanity in the midst. 
It is fair to judge potentates by the manifest effects of their 
rule. Look, then, on man as blinded, manacled, fettered, 
wounded and bruised by the papacy in conflict with me ; 
and, having looked on the poor victim again and again, give 
your verdict and pronounce your judgment. You find the 
papacy guilty of high treason against God and man, and write 
this writing (Dan. v. 25) : 

Mene, Mexel, Tekel, Upharsix : 
God hath xumbered thy kixgdom axd fixished it. 

When the papacy is no more, then will the religion of 
Jesus reign and rule, and then too will my empire vanish 
with that which, if not its origin, has been its principal sup- 
port. Sacerdotalism and kingcraft no more, mankind will 
have reached its ideal, and in doing so made my rule no 
longer a possibility. A thoroughly trained and fully developed 
race of men will no more be accessible to the illusion of 
Satanical possession, than the ordinary ploughman is now 
afraid of ghosts or hobgoblins. This most desirable result is 
doubtless far, perhaps very far distant; but who can look 
from the pure, serene and wholesome air of the present back 
into the atmosphere of the middle ages, odorous with sulphur, 
lurid with flame, disturbed with demons, and laden and dark- 
ened with priests, without feeling assured that a few more 
centuries of continued, if not accelerated progress, will have 



SAVONAROLA DENOUNCES THE PAPACY. 



259 



left far in the rear the principal tormentors of human beings 
in their actual condition % Certainly, the moment I see the 
retiring shadow of sacerdotalism, I shall make my "bow and 
quit the stage. Where the priest is not, I cannot live ; and 
where I do not live, the priest must die. 



CHAPTER VII. 

MY CONNECTION, THROUGH ASTROLOGY, MAGIC, &C., WITH THE 
HIGHEST FUNCTIONARIES IN CHURCH AND STATE. 

Constantinople has fallen, and in its fall sent scholars 
into various parts of the West, every one of whom is a torch- 
bearer. The revival of letters is at hand. Printing is dis- 
covered, and the people can no longer be kept in the dark. 
A new era, I feel, is approaching. 

Jerome Savonarola lifts his powerful voice, and moves the 
multitudes as the tempest tosses the ocean. One object on 
which he pours forth his impassioned oratory is the papacy, 
then represented by the sovereign pontiff Alexander VI. 
Roderic Borgia, born in 1431 at Valencia in Spain, got 
himself appointed Pope in 1492, after purchasing the votes 
of several cardinals. Dissipated in his youth, he had by a 
Eoman lady named Vanozza four sons, the most known of 
whom is Caesar Borgia, notorious for his crimes and perfidies, 
which, however, did not disqualify him for the highest eccle- 
siastical dignities. Another of Alexander's natural children 
was Lucretia Borgia, celebrated for her beauty, her wit and 
her vice. Her father, Eoderic Borgia, whose papal name was 
Alexander, played an important part in the politics of his 
day. After having waged an unsuccessful war against Charles 
VIII., king of France, he formed a close alliance with Louis 
XII., his successor (1498 — 1515). Aided by this connection, 
he succeeded in despoiling the princ es who were his neigh - 

s 2 



260 



AND SUFFERS MARTYRDOM. 



hours, and in augmenting the temporal power of the Holy 
See. "To satisfy his ambition," says a high authority,"" "he 
trod under foot divine and human laws, and did not fear to 
have recourse to perfidy, and perhaps even poison. He died 
in 1503, poisoned, it is said, by drinking a draught he had 
prepared for one of his victims." The state of society over 
which such a man could have been the spiritual head must 
have been very depraved. This single fact explains the ap- 
pearance of the Dominican monk Savonarola, who, as with 
"the voice of an. archangel and the trump of God," uttered 
his terrible rebukes against the vices of the Pope and the 
vices of the world, foretelling the greatest calamities to Italy, 
and the reform of the Church by the sword of Charles VllL 
" Woe to thee, Eome !" he exclaimed ; " woe to thee, Flo- 
rence ! I see the Alps covered with clouds of barbarians, who 
rush down on Italy like eagles on their prey. What blood, 
great God ! what blood in the streets of the cities ! Satan is 
the prince of the air, and God grants him permission to use 
his power to harden those who insult him by crimes so 
monstrous. I hear the voice of the grave-digger, who cries 
as he goes, ' Who has any to bury ? who has any to bury V 
This one brings him his father, that one his wife, a third his 
son. 0 Italy, array thyself in mourning weeds !" 

Savonarola poured forth the indignation he felt at seeing 
pagan art revive in Eome and Italy under all forms. He 
endeavoured to create a Christian art. He founded schools 
of art, encouraged artists, aimed at a radical reform, expecting 
from it the best results in favour of religion. His genius 
was equal to so serious a task ; but he reckoned too much on 
the support of an enervated and impressionable people. His 
boldness aroused his enemies. He was thrown into prison. 
He suffered martyrdom (1498), and multitudes stood by in 
total indifference. What else could be expected in an age which 
endured the turpitude of Pope Alexander VI. i This event 

* Dictionnaire Universel cTHistoire, par M. N. Bouillet, Proviseur du 
College Bourbon. 



PREVALENCE OF SATANISM. 



261 



calls forth from a Roman Catholic authority these words : 
" Satan triumphed ; the revival of letters, turned aside from 
its proper direction, remained pagan." In one sense this is 
true. I did triumph in thus supporting " that man of ini- 
quity." Looking back upon the event, I am grieved beyond 
measure. 0 yes ; do not be astonished. I have moved with 
my age ; and I cannot regard things now in this nineteenth 
century as I regarded them in the fifteenth. And yet in 
reporting to you my Autobiography, I ought to report the 
state of mind I felt at every successive stage of my very 
lengthened life. 

Give a specially attentive ear, excellent and patient Theo- 
philus, while in fast ascending to the throne of this lower 
world, I subjoin a few sketches illustrative of the hold I had 
during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries on 
the hearts and lives of the highest individuals in the highest 
ranks of society. The shadows will be very deep. Deeper 
might they be easily made ; but frowning and disgraceful as 
they are, they describe not my influence alone, but that of 
the Church and of the State. After all, how can words paint 
the horrible evils which Satanism, in the shape of astrology, 
magic and other black arts, inflicted on high as well as low, 
on the learned as well as the ignorant, on men, women and 
children, in all classes and conditions 1 Justice to the subject 
my words cannot do ; but they may exercise some influence 
to induce you, my pupil, and others alike pure, simple-minded, 
benevolent and earnest, to strive to the utmost for the extinc- 
tion of this Satanical hydra. 

About the year 1370, the wise Charles Y. founded in Paris 
the College de JNotre-Dame de Bayeux, the direction of which 
he entrusted to Gervais Chretien, who is described as a canon 
as well as " head physician and astrologer in his majesty's 
pay." Other astrologers were in favour in his court. Andre 
de Sully cast the horoscope of Charles VI. , the Duke of 
Orleans and Duke John of Burgundy. 

In imitation of the king, princely houses and great per- 



2G2 PRINCES CONTROLLED BY ASTROLOGERS. 

sonages kept astrologers in their service. Not only did these 
men of science exercise their art on behalf of their employers, 
they discharged the highest functions as their representatives 
at home and abroad. Astrology and divination of all kinds 
took an intimate part in the different events of life. Not a 
hero was there whose history was not foretold. A nun read 
on the hand and in the features of Bertrand du Guesclin that 
he would one day be the saviour of France, predicting the 
fact when he had scarcely quitted his cradle. A necromancer 
of Toledo had often announced that Henri de Transtamare 
would become king of Spain long before the thought entered 
his head. And yet nothing was more futile than these pre- 
dictions. Everything was divined beforehand, without any- 
thing being prevented. It was as if the people that were 
threatened by prophecies did their best to prevent their accom- 
plishment. An old sorceress of Grenada predicted to Peter 
the Cruel that he would murder his excellent wife, and in 
consequence lose his crown. He remembered the words only 
when too late. Driven from his throne, he again had recourse 
to divination ; and the learned clerk whom he consulted told 
him, after a magical operation, that he would recover his 
kingdom, that he would not amend his life, and that he would 
lose his dominions again. So it came to pass. 

The credit of astrology was not lessened during the reign 
of the successor of Charles V. Scarcely had he returned 
from his expedition into Flanders, when an English knight, 
named Peter de Courtenay, reputed for bravery, and who 
stood high in the graces of the king of England, came into 
France and defied its chivalry by challenging Guy de la Tre- 
moille to single combat. With permission from the king, 
de la Tremoille accepted the challenge ; but wishing to put 
the chance on his side, he consulted the court astrologers. 
Having consulted the heavens, according to the rules, they 
fixed the day for the duel, promising that the Englishman 
would be defeated, and promising also a radiant sun to throw 
splendour on the occasion. The time came ; but the sun 



FATAL AND FUTILE PREDICTIONS. 



263 



did not appear for even a moment. Instead, torrents of 
rain descended on the ground, so as to make the encounter 
impossible. Not always were the astrologers so unfortunate. 
Jacques de Tortona, physician and astrologer of Charles the 
Bad, declared to that prince that he would die from excess of 
heat. He did die from excess of heat, being burnt alive in 
a sheet steeped in brandy, in which he had been enveloped 
in order to restore his exhausted strength. The cause w 7 as a 
candle imprudently put too near the patient. 

Louis Delangle, physician and astrologer to Charles VII., 
besides other things, predicted his own death. It was to take 
place in a fortnight. He spent the interval in preparatory 
religious services. He died on the last day of the appointed 
time. Similar facts are on record in the history of astrology. 
The famous Jerome Cardan, having announced his death for 
the 21st of September, 1576, took leave of his friends during 
the three previous days, and then, at the time appointed, let 
himself, at the age of seventy-five, die of hunger to fulfil his 
own prediction. This great mathematical genius was so beset 
by the falsities of his day, that, believing in astrology, he, as 
others of his time, believed in the devil as its source, for he 
fancied he himself had a famulus or imp at his side. Astro- 
logy was so much in repute, that woe to him by whom it 
should be denied ! If any one dared to protest in favour of 
reason, he was forthwith overwhelmed by the clamour of 
the multitude. The celebrated Jean Gerson had a bitter 
experience in this matter. Having attempted to discredit 
"The Book of Nativities" by Jean de Meun, and thus to 
check the ruling passion, in a modest treatise which he 
entitled Astrologie selon Iheologie (Astrology according to 
Theology), he drew around his head such a storm of abuse, 
as to be beaten down and confounded. One charge against 
him was, that he was daring enough to withhold belief in his 
master, the celebrated Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly, who, conjointly 
with Rutilianus, and after the example of Albert le Grand, 
had ventured so far as to draw the horoscope of Christ him- 



2CA 



THE JEWS OBTAIN RELIEF BY ASTROLOGY. 



self, in order, by so signal an example, to prove the certainty 
of astrological science. Those learned personages had found 
in the aspect of Mars and Jupiter, who, they said, presided at 
the birth of . the Lord, the exact number of demons that he 
would expel, and discovered the kind of death he was to die. 

Charles VIII. shared his father's weakness in regard to 
astrology. He paid two hundred crowns for a celestial sphere 
constructed by Guillaume de Carpentras. Accordingly, in an 
ordinance which he put forth against diviners and sorcerers, 
he did not mention astrologers. These, practising what was 
thought a respectable art, given up to profound studies and 
learned speculations, proudly disdained all contact with magic, 
and when, at a later time, the Church condemned their books 
and their predictions, felt equal surprise and indignation. 

Whilst astrology thus disturbed and beclouded all the rela- 
tions of life, wdien it did not lead to deadly crimes, it occa- 
sionally did some good service. No outcasts were so oppressed 
and injured in the middle ages as the Jews. Always driven 
away, they ahvays came back. Even so early, they had in a 
measure become bankers to society. The power of the purse, 
when aided by the power of astrology, obtained for them 
sometimes a mitigation of their hard lot. Their business 
brought them into close relations with the higher nobility, 
whose luxury made pecuniary assistance very welcome ; and 
so the sons of Israel became possessed of secrets which they 
well knew how to turn to account. 

If Louis XL, who deceived everybody, deserved to be made 
a dupe in his turn, the credit belongs to an astrologer. The 
wise man predicted the death of a lady to whom the prince 
w r as strongly attached. The event justified the prediction. 
The outraged king sent for the astrologer, and said, " Thou 
knowest a great deal ; dost thou know when thou shalt die ?" 
" Yes,*' he firmly replied ; " three days before your Majesty." 

A science which, having no solid ground, was often falsified 
by events, w T as led to employ processes and forms of speech 
by which its patrons could, in appearance, prove themselves 



VILE PRACTICES OF ASTROLOGERS, 



265 



right, whatever the prediction and whatever the event. Hence 
astrology hecame as false in spirit, aim and practice, as were 
the oracles of Greece. A series of equivocations, evasions and 
deceptive interpretations ensued, which deluded the deceived 
and sustained the deceivers. Their phraseology became equally 
obscure and pompous. They introduced into their professional 
jargon comets, eclipses, atmospheric fires. Hence a crowd of 
false impressions and groundless terrors, the reign of which 
has not yet come to an end. Still, with the multitude, celestial 
phenomena are a source of ignorant wonder or secret alarm. 
An aurora bo realis of imposing dimensions or unusual brilliancy 
portends good or evil according to the prepossessions or the 
momentary disposition of the observer. In former days, these 
illusions were far more formidable than now. The Queen 
Louise de Savoy, walking in the forest of Eomovantin on the 
night of the 28th of August, 1514, perceived a comet in the 
western part of the sky. Immediately she exclaimed, " The 
Swiss ! the Swiss !" concluding that her son was then in 
conflict with them. The battle of Marignan verified her 
second-sight. Of course she became a firm believer in astro- 
logy. In 1531, three days before her death, she was so 
smitten with fear at the sight of another comet, that she could 
not be tranquillized, and fell beneath a slight indisposition 
that might else have been easily removed. " It is," said she, 
" a sign which God gives, not for low people, but for us the 
great. It is there for me ; I must prepare,'' She died of 
fear. 

The spirit of the age was undergoing change. The subtle- 
ties and craft of the astrologers begat suspicion or disbelief 
in really superior minds. The magnanimous son of Louise 
de Savoy, Francois L, despised astrology as much as Charles 
V., his adversary, held it in repute. Astrology was then 
fashionable in Spain. Charles loved astrologers and paid them 
well. He did not always receive his reward. It was in virtue 
of an astrological prediction that his great captain, the famous 
Antony de Leve, induced him to undertake the expedition into 



266 



ASTROLOGY BECOME THE FASHION, 



Provence which proved so disastrous to Spain. It was also 
in virtue of another astrological prediction that the Marquis 
de Saluces abandoned the cause of France to follow that of 
the emperor, and lost his Marquisate. 

After the signature of the treaty of Madrid made between 
these two potentates, the French court sent the king's tw r o 
sons as hostages into Spain. Charles treated them with the 
same rigour as the lowest criminals. Scarcely could a ray of 
light make its way into their dungeon. Francois deputed his 
gentleman usher Bodin to ascertain the facts. Arrived on 
the spot, Bodin found the dauphin grown, and wished to take 
his measure. He was refused. He was not to touch the pri- 
soners. No ; nor was he allowed to put on them the velvet 
trousers he had brought for the purpose. The court even 
went so far as to send him back by another road, without 
carrying with him anything Spanish. Why these precau- 
tions ? Charles feared lest his prisoners should fly away. A 
German astrologer had offered Francois to bring him his boys 
"back through the atmosphere. Annoyed and distressed though 
the king of France was, he replied derisively, " I am not sure 
that that road is quite safe.*' However, this high-minded 
and scornful prince had infused into his court, and through 
it into France, so much disdain for astrology and sorcery of all 
kinds, that it would have been all over with their practitioners 
had not his queen, the Italian Catherine de Medicis, succeeded 
in restoring its prestige for a moment. On entering France, 
she brought in her suite a great number of magicians and 
astrologers, among whom was the too famous Ruggieri, a 
Florentine, whom she honoured with her protection in spite 
of his crimes, or perhaps on account of them, and to whom she 
gave the Abbey de Saint Mahe in Brittany, to recompense 
him for the annoyance of an imprisonment which he had un- 
dergone for having made waxen images, in order to bewitch 
Charles IX. and Queen Margaret. Catherine erected l'hotel 
de Soissons and built an observatory, on the summit of which 
she followed the courses of the stars during the night, in order 



CATHERINE DE MEDICIS PATRONIZES ASTROLOGY. 267 

to ask of them counsel as to her conduct on the morrow. She 
had purchased the land with a view of removing from Saint- 
Germain-l'Auxerrois, which had become intolerable to her, 
as well as Les Tuileries, although her own work, because an 
astrologer had predicted that she would die in a place having 
Saint-Germain for its name. She wore on her breast the* 
skin of an infant, prepared and covered with talismanic cha- 
racters. Luke Gaurie constructed for her a magic girdle which 
was to preserve her from all accidents. This astrologer pre- 
dicted to Henry II. that he would be the emperor of Ger- 
many, and that he would live to a good old age, if he could 
surmount the dangers of his fifty-sixth and sixty-fourth year. 
However, Henry was never emperor, and he died when forty. 

Catherine de Medicis made astrology fashionable in France 
to such an extent, that most noble dames had an astrologer 
in their service, whom they called their Baron, and to whom 
they repaired every morning for advice. It would be difficult 
to draw up a list of all the prophetic almanacs which appeared 
during her reign. Jean Yostel, Toinot Arbot, Edmond le 
Maistre, Michel Nostradamus, Jun., Maria Colini, were distin- 
guished among the most hardy and the most prolific prognosti- 
gators. In 1574, Michel Nostradamus put out his Predictions 
des Glioses Memorables qui sont a venir jusqu'en 1585 (Pre- 
dictions of Memorable Things which are to come from now 
until 1585). 

Pasquier in his Letters tells us that the superstitious princess 
was given to necromancy, not less than to astrology. " The 
deceased royal mother," he writes, " desirous of knowing if 
all her children would ascend the throne, applied to a magi- 
cian for information ; who shewed her in a hall, around a 
circle he had formed, all the kings of Prance who had been 
and would be, each of which made as many turns about the 
circle as he either had reigned or was to reign ; and as 
Henry III. (1574 — 1589) made fifteen turns, the deceased 
king (Henry IV., 1589— 1610) entered on his career gaily, 
and making twenty complete turns disappeared. Then a little 



268 



DIABOLIC ECSTASY. 



prince (Louis XIII.), aged from eight to nine years, came for- 
ward, who made thirty-seven or thirty-eight turns. The queen 
had seen enough. The objects became invisible. If this was 
not a history drawn up after the events, as it was easy to do 
when Pasquier wrote, there was an error of a few years in 
regard to the reign of Louis XIII., which extended from 1610 
to 1643. 

To her inclinations toward magic, Catherine de Medicis 
added the faculty of prophetic ecstasy. Her daughter, queen 
Margaret, speaks of it with a thoroughly filial complacency. 
" To minds in which uncommon excellence shines, God," she 
says, "communicates knowledge of events prepared for them, 
whether good or bad. He does so to the queen, my mother, 
who during the night preceding the unhappy hunt dreamt that 
she saw my father wounded in the eye. This she reported 
to him, and begged him not to course that day." "Being 
dangerously ill at Metz," adds the queen of Xavarre, " and 
having around her bed king Charles, my sister, and my 
brother of Lorraine, besides many dames and princesses, she 
suddenly cried out, as if she saw the battle of Jarnac, 6 See 
how they fly from my son ! Victory ! victory ! Do you see 
there the prince of Conde lying dead V All who were there 
thought she was dreaming, but the night after M. de Losses 
brought her the news. £ I am well aware of it,' she replied ; 
i did I not see it the day before yesterday V Then it was 
acknowledged that it was not a feverish dream, but special 
light which God gives to rare and illustrious persons ; and for 
myself, I must say I have never been near signal accidents, 
whether sinister or happy, but I received previous notice of 
them in a dream or otherwise ; and I can well take to myself 
this line : 

De mon bien au rnon mal mon esprit in' est oracle." 

/ am my own oracle, whether for good or ill. 

But the ecstasies of Catherine de Medicis did not give 
rise to so many dissertations as the famous cabbalistic medal 
presented to her by the physician Fernel in order to procure 



PASSION FOR MAGIC. 269 

fecundity, on which she no longer reckoned after ten years of 
marriage. Catherine is represented upon it in the most im- 
modest state, surrounded by multiform hieroglyphs, and having 
on her right hand and her left the constellations of the Bull 
and the Goat, and under her feet the name Ebuleb-Asmodee, 
with a javelin in one hand, and a heart in the other. The 
name Oxiel forms the device. 

Perhaps more than astrology, magic was the passion of the 
age. The constant talk was of charm-makers. Charms were 
made for all sorts of objects. There was a charm to prevent a 
marriage, and a charm to render a marriage unprolific. There 
was a charm to stop a horse running at full speed, and a charm 
to unhorse the most skilful rider. One charm prevented the 
hounds from taking the game, and another prevented the gun 
from discharging its contents. Amulets abounded and were 
used for all purposes of self-protection. Society waged an 
internecine war, each trying to injure his neighbour, each 
trying to protect himself. If a person fell ill, an amulet was 
preferred to medicine ; or, if the latter was used, it was only 
in union with the former. One year all the dogs and cats 
of Eiom were taken with madness. Forthwith amulets were 
in universal demand. The law did something to arrest this 
magical insanity. Nevertheless, it went on. The supreme 
judge of Ancre in Trance boasts of having burnt a multitude 
of fabricators of charms. By the side of these were the givers 
of philters (love-potions). The king of the Eomans, Frede- 
ric III., called the Handsome, died in 1330, poisoned by a 
philter given by a court lady in order to preserve the monarch's 
favour toward her husband. By the same means Valentine 
de Milan poisoned the unfortunate Charles YI. of France. 
The emperor Charles IV. died of a philter given him by his 
wife, the duchess of Cleves. Peter Lotichius, one of the best 
German poets of the day, who died in 1560, and the celebrated 
engraver, Henry Gaud, of Utrecht, remained dolts till their 
death by the effect of similar draughts. By an abuse as 
criminal as the attempt itself, the magicians who prepared 



270 



DIABOLIC PREDICTIONS. 



these drinks mingled with them sacred things superabun- 
dantly. 

An ecclesiastical writer, speaking of these follies and crimes, 
says : " If justice has not funeral piles enough, certainly hell 
has plenty of fires, and Satan ought to be satisfied." 

To these individual and social disorders must be added 
the effects of predictions, and prognostications, and prophecies, 
which abounded everywhere. The end of the world was at 
hand. A new deluge was about to cover the globe. " Anti- 
christ is born to-day." " Antichrist will appear at the end of 
the year." Thus the popular mind was kept in a state of fever- 
ish agitation, and common life, becoming tame, lost all respect 
and attention. Albumazar had mentioned the years 1355 and 
1376 as fated to be full of perils for society. Arnauld de 
Villeneuve adopted those dates, the first for the birth of Anti- 
christ, the second for the end of the world. But these years 
proving altogether commonplace, a German astrologer, by 
name John Lubec, went over the calculations afresh, and 
found that Antichrist would be born the 10th of March, 1504, 
at four minutes past six o'clock. 

Eegiomantan fixed the year 1528 for the second deluge, 
and 1-588 for the end of the world. This prediction was laid 
hold of by Savonarola, and he threw it out in the midst of 
the agitations of Italy on the approach of the wars with France. 
John S toller and Gaspard Bruck took it up and put it into 
verse. Savonarola inserted it in the Liber Mirabilis (Book 
of Wonders), an ample collection of predictions the most threat- 
ening and the most fit to move Italian imaginations. This 
magical shell was fired off repeatedly. It was printed at Paris 
in 1520, reprinted in 1523, and then at Eome in 1524. Dis- 
quiet and terror gained ground on all sides. In various parts of 
Europe, prudent persons prepared vessels and provisions with 
which to encounter the approaching deluge. Blaise d'Auriol, 
professor of jurisprudence in the College of Toulouse, kept, as 
a means of safety, a small ship with its rigging under a shed 
until he died, which took place in 1540. 



SATANIC AL SOCIETIES. 



271 



" Such, then is the work of Satan, and such his rule in the 
world. To lie in order to deceive ; to mislead in order to lead 
astray j to create disorder and trouble for the purpose of 
turning souls away from sacred and useful things ; to guide 
fools into the roads which lead to depravation, homicide, pro- 
fanation • to give birth to criminal hopes ; to foster them by 
chimerical and pernicious means ; to agitate, without end 
and without truce to agitate, unhappy mortals ; to commit 
these iniquities with as little regard to friends as enemies, 
and having friends only to destroy them * such is Satan's 
mission, work, and such his rule." 

During the fifteenth century, Satanical societies multiplied 
themselves throughout Europe in a prodigious manner. The 
king's ordinance of 1490 against magicians, as a consequence of 
which the mayor of Paris issued a second with great pomp in 
1493, uncovered to men's eyes the depth of the wound as 
it was even in the capital of France. The zeal of informers 
being called into action by promise of one-fourth of the fines, 
informations, indictments and convincing evidence poured in 
from all quarters. The officers of justice could no longer 
tolerate the abuses for fear of appearing to connive at them ; 
persons unconnected with the iniquities, but who were aware 
of their existence, durst not keep silent, lest they should pass 
for accomplices. Thus during this age and the next, the 
magistrates had their hands full of duties the most painful. A 
letter addressed in 1459, by Pope Pius II., to the clergy of the 
diocese of Treguier, shews how Brittany was then infected. 
"It has come to our ears," says the sovereign Pontiff, "that 
the majority of the inhabitants of the Duchy de Bretagne 
have allowed themselves to be captured by the seductions of 
the devil. There are in that province a multitude of persons 
who make it their business to foretell the future, to heal 
maladies by the force of enchantments, or to cause maladies 
by the same nefarious means. 'Not satisfied with carrying on 
such a trade, they impose celibacy on every one as an abso- 
lute condition of safety." These revealing words shew us 



272 



MYRIADS IMMOLATED TO SATANISM. 



those same Gnostics that existed in the first ages of Chris- 
tianity, and in opposition to it. Similar errors, spread abroad 
from the eighth to the fifteenth century, called forth the watch- 
fulness of the Church and moved its arm for their removal. 
Then thousands on thousands of poor wretches were given over 
to the flames in all parts of Europe. This crime of Gnosticism 
came from Italy into France. Italy revived and supported it. 
The districts of Como, Bergamo and Brescia, were infested 
with it to the highest degree. In truth, those magicians were 
Gnostics whom Pope Leo X. in his Bull Honestis reproached 
with the crimes of renouncing God, baptism, confirmation, 
the immolation of infants, the worship of Satan under a visible 
form, charms, witchcraft, and similar dealings with the devil. 
So numerous were these, that when Bernard Betogno, sent as 
inquisitor in 1505 into those provinces by Pope Julius II., 
had set up his tribunal there, he ascertained that already the 
prosecutions had been going on for a century and a half with- 
out applying an effectual remedy to the disease. And, says 
Spina, the evil was so great, that the inquisitor and his six 
vicars had to try more than a thousand criminals every year, 
and accordingly every year delivered many hundred over for 
punishment to the secular arm. In the county of Burbia, 
near Como, it was proved that those wretches served up the 
flesh of infants at their feasts. On the occasion, the inquisitor 
of Como committed forty-one persons to trial, all of whom 
were consigned to the flames. A greater number had fled 
from justice by taking refuge' in the Tyrol. The Tyrol itself, 
and in particular the valley of Oglio, was not less infested. 
The inquisitor Bartholomew one night attended one of their 
sabbaths with the mayor of ]\Iandrisco and the notary of the 
Inquisition, in order to ascertain what went on there, when 
they were so beaten by those wretches that they died a few 
days afterwards. The only testimony that they could give 
before they died was, that they saw a multitude of people of all 
ages, and the devil whom they worshiped. 

In 1517, there were fresh inquiries and pursuits, as a conse- 



RAVAGES OF WITCHCRAFT. 



273 



quence of which a great number of the inhabitants of the 
valley of the Oglio were consumed by fire. A revolt ensued. 
Then prosecutions w T ere instituted for sedition. But soon 
justice had no longer power to execute its verdicts. The affair 
was taken up by the tribunal of The Ten at Venice, and 
brought to a settlement without correcting any one ; for, in 
1523, by order of Pope Leo X., inquiries and examinations 
were once more made in the neighbourhood of Como against 
these same sectaries, who renounced baptism and took Satan 
for their lord and master, trampling on the cross and sacred 
things, and casting lots on men and beasts. Saint Charles 
Borromeo, bishop of Milan, himself undertook a mission in 
the valley of Mesolieno, in the country of the Grisons. By 
force of sermons, patience and perseverance, he brought back 
a great number of sinners and re-established order, yet with- 
out being able to prevail with eleven old women, more obsti- 
nate than the rest, more habitually given up to Satanical 
practices ; and also even the mayor of Rovereto ; these he 
had to leave in the hands of the inquisitor. Sad in 1488 was * 
the religious condition of German Switzerland, and destruc- 
tive the ravages of the Lollards in Austria and Bohemia. The 
disorders spread into Pranconia, for there one hundred and 
fifty persons were committed to the flames in the year 1627 
and the two following years for the crimes of magic and 
the worship of Satan. In Prisia, Mecklenberg and Oriental 
Russia, even in the very heart of Protestantism, the funeral 
pile each day devoured new victims during the fourteenth 
and fifteenth centuries. The contagion penetrated even into 
the mountains of Scandinavia. The first place in which it 
burst out was the district of Elffdale. In 1559, it appeared 
at Mohra and in the surrounding lands. The inhabitants 
whom it did not touch entreated the government to have 
recourse to prompt and vigorous measures for its eradication. 
Accordingly a commission was sent, composed of ecclesiastics 
and laymen, to make inquiries and take the necessary steps. 
It was ascertained that in the town of Mohra alone there were 

T 



274 ROMANIST DESCRIPTIONS OP SATANIC DEVASTATIONS. 

seventy female magicians, who had communicated the charm 
or demoniacal impregnation to three hundred little children. 
Thirty-eight of the adults were burnt ; thirty-six of the chil- 
dren underwent whipping, and twenty others were condemned 
to do penance in public. " To these great and general troubles 
the arming of the Lutheran Eeformers added calamities still 
greater. Eeform was an idea which floated in the atmosphere 
and was breathed in with the air ; a word which was on all 
lips, now with bad intention, now with good. Eeform what 1 
6 To reform the Church in its head and members,' to use the 
customary phrase ; that is, the entire world, from the pope 
down to the shoeblack. Certainly it was a great undertak- 
ing, and the more difficult because every one wished to be a 
reformer, while not one was willing to be reformed. All reform 
in this respect was, is, and will be, impossible ; the least 
reform would annihilate the Church : from the moment when 
it is reformable in a single point, it is no longer a divine 
dogma, but a human opinion, and then it is no longer Chris- 
tianity. Whether proud reason wills it or not, the least 
breach made in the dogma of the Church brings the entire 
fabric to the ground. To reform morals 1 There was need : 
but this is exactly what each one demanded for others. A 
secondary question, that of the abuse of indulgences, raised by 
the disappointed ambition of a monk who had not been com- 
missioned to announce the new privileges, made the mine ex- 
plode. All the Eeformers, enemies to each other as much as 
to the Church, whom they wanted to reform, each according 
to his own point of view, united nevertheless in a common 
negative, which they expressed by a single word, that of Pro- 
testants. Protesting from different considerations, they all 
protested against the Catholic Church. For three hundred 
and fifty years, Protestantism has remained what it was at the 
first, a thousand or a million negations to the capital unity 
of Christendom. It is not for us to write the history of Pro- 
testantism. Enough to have notified its birth, and to recall 
the torrents of blood it has shed. What ruins has it heaped 



AN AMPLE HARVEST FOR SATAN 



275 



up ! what civil discords has it called forth ! what sanguinary 
combats ! what hate ! what revenge ! what murders, single or 
collected ! and what hidden and reciprocal aversions, persist- 
ing down to our times, between the children of the same 
Father, Godj the disciples of the same Master, Christ; pilgrims 
to the same land, Heaven ! 

" And in all this, what an ample harvest for Satan ! what 
triumphs for his cause ! what happiness for him, if happy 
he could be, to contemplate the evils he has inflicted on 
humanity ! 

" And let no one think that Protestantism has emancipated 
men and rescued them from the despotism of Satan. It is 
the contrary. Let no one think that it has put clown trials 
for witchcraft ; that it has regulated the forms and mitigated 
the laws on the point. It is the contrary ! It is the contrary ! 
Never was society so much occupied with Satan as under 
Protestantism at its commencements ; never was justice more 
pitiless, more insatiable, more cruel. 

" And first of all, Luther brought Satan into bold relief. 
Everything that was opposed to his changeful manner of seeing 
things was diabolical. All his adversaries were the devil's 
imps. He said that the devil had stifled CEcolampadius, a 
charge which grievously offended the Swiss. In 1533, he 
published his conference with the devil on the subject of 
Mass. 

"Then Satan came out of hell, evoked by Protestantism, and 
everything was proclaimed Satanic in the ancient faith of the 
Christian : mass, the sacraments, ceremonies, Hturgy, images, 
saints, the celestial and the terrestrial hierarchy, books, the- 
ology j yes, everything. Prom the pope and the cardinals, 
down to the servants who supply the holy water ; the holy 
water itself, and the sprinkler — all became diabolical. Trials 
for witchcraft did not then fall into disuse in the reasoning and 
emancipated Church. Par from it. Animated by a youthful 
and vigorous hate against the Catholic Church and against 
Satan, Protestantism armed itself with a two-edged sword. Lay 

t 2 



276 



PRODUCED BY PROTESTANTISM. 



judges superseded and surpassed the Inquisition. Hecatombs 
of human victims were immolated. 

" The Anabaptists appeared at the same time as the Pro- 
testants, and added truly Satanical disorders to others. If the 
origin of this sect is obscure, it is because its cradle is in the 
forests and the caves where the Lollards and other Satanical 
societies concealed their mysteries. True imps of Satan, carried 
away with the demoniacal impregnation, they lost all reason, 
all sense, all shame, all modesty. Troops of them were seen 
.to revel in the most disgraceful nudity; villages to practise, 
as necessary to salvation, bestial promiscuousness ; entire bodies 
to mix human blood with their drink, in order to excite each 
other by a common effort to the extermination of all who did 
not think as they thought. Extermination, liberty to say 
anything and to do anything, a community of goods and of 
persons, and heaven for reward — such was their faith, their 
morality, their object." 

Much more of the same kind I might cite from the same 
Papal sources. I have made use of these authorities with a 
serious purpose. Throughout what precedes I have had it in 
view to exhibit my rise, growth and maturity, in order that 
you might have before your eyes indubitable evidence that I 
am a power rather than a person. With this Catholic tes- 
timony I consider the chain of proof complete. A power I 
undoubtedly am. Possessing as I do control over the rulers 
of hell and the rulers of earth, I possess universal dominion 
below, and very seriously control the venerable potentates and 
principalities on high. 

Here I stand and rule supreme, sovereign over the 
majority of human beings, and sharer with the Church in deter- 
mining the fate of millions on millions of human beings year 
after year.* 

* The repulsive picture given in the text of the supremacy of Satan 
from Romanist sources is surpassed by one which the reader may find in 
Burton's " Anatomy of Melancholy," and in particular, Part i. sec. ii. seq. 
Burton, a clergyman of the Church of England (born in 1576, died in 



SATAN SUPREME. 



271 



I am monarch of all I survey. 

The elevation makes me giddy, and already in looking for- 
ward I feel the pillar on which I stand sinking under my 
weight. 

1639), gives the Protestant view of Satan's supremacy as it existed in his 
own time and was seen under the terribly deep shadows of morbid Calvin- 
ism. Yet, inasmuch as he treats his themes historically, he presents a 
picture of subjective realities, and that picture is so horrible as to make 
the intelligent modern reader hate superstition in its worst form, namely, 
the diabolical, with the intensest hatred, and to rejoice in his own emanci- 
pation with "joy unspeakable." 



278 



SATANISM MULTIPLIED. 



BOOK VII. 

PERIOD OF DECOMPOSITION : DEBASEMENT : DECLINE, 



CHAPTEE t 

MY TRANSFORMATIONS. 

Seated on the throne of universal empire, and looking back 
on my past and my future, I at this point of my narrative am 
led to ask after my own identity with a little special care. Am 
I from the first to the last one and the same '] The answer I 
receive from my survey is an emphatic " No !" Yet, according 
to the ecclesiastical authorities, ever since I fell I have been 
what I am and what I shall always remain, — the chief of the 
fallen angels, known by the name of Satan. My clerical his- 
torians have not only put me together as the printer sets his 
letters, but they have stereotyped me. Moreover, they have 
spread copies of the plates everywhere. In consequence, my 
features and my attributes are as well known as those of 
the greatest earthly potentates. I am thus not merely imper- 
sonated, but individualized. "Who under these circumstances 
can doubt my existence ? If any sceptic should be so bold, 
is not my likeness there to put him to shame ? And where 
may not my likeness be found, when every successive Sun- 
day I am held up to view in pulpits in all parts of Christen- 
dom? Here is my portrait as painted in the seventeenth 
century by the hand of Eeginald Scott : " Our mothers' 
mayds terrifle us with the ouglie devel — with homes on his 
head, her in his mouth, a huge tayle in his breech, eies like 



satan's normal form. 



279 



basons (basins), fangs like a boar, claws like a tiger, a skin like 
a bear, and a voice like a roaring lion ." 

Nevertheless, I am of all creatures the most changeful. The 
Metamorphoses of Ovid are child's play, compared with my 
transformations. I vary with every form and hue of civiliza- 
tion j with every aspect of the sky ; with every variety of 
climate ; with every age and almost every year of the world. 
I am the ecclesiastical Proteus — only intensified and diversified 
beyond the power of words to describe. Not long since, when 
in a pensive mood, I in thought went over my history, and 
gathered together a number of the variations through which I 
have passed, intending to communicate them to you. 

There are certain natural facts which spontaneously create 
in the human mind a triune conception of the ruling powers 
of the universe. The most prevalent of this circle of phe- 
nomena are father, mother, and progeny. Hence the chief 
triunities of the Hellenic mythology. But behind and above 
Chronos and Dios is Moira, the distributor, i.e. Fate or Destiny, 
w r hich affixes on each human being in his birth the history 
through which he is to pass, and has an ultimate and supreme 
control over the divinities, as of the first rank so of every kind. 
This control Moira exercises through her three daughters, 
Klotho the spinner, Lachesis the allotter, and Atropos the 
unchangeable. In other words, changeless Fate determines 
and spins the thread of human existence. That existence has 
two sides, of which the dark often preponderates. It may, 
indeed, to a gloomy mind appear that human life is on the 
whole a dark, if not a very dark tissue. This darkness is not 
undeserved. If allotted by fate, it is merited by man. To 
inflict due retribution is the office of the Erinyes, the Furies, 
whose avenging lashes were so cutting and cruel, that men, in 
hope of deprecating their fury, denominated them JEumenides, 
or the Good Ladies. 

These pagan notions, absorbed in the Christian Church, not 
only conduced to its reception of the old Aryan myth of Satan, 
but stamped on that infernal divinity the image of a trinity 



280 



METAMORPHOSES OF SATAN. 



already ascribed to God the Creator. When art was called 
on for aid wherewith to impress religious conceptions on the 
popular mind, a triune Satan, as shewn in the Frontispiece, 
was pictured and presented to the votaries of the Christian 
Church. Conceived as the antithesis of the triune God, I 
thus became the triune Satan. As a contrasted image of the 
Trinity, I appear possessed of three heads at the centre of the 
earth, not in Dante alone, but in various miniatures existing 
in Missals and other manuals of Catholic devotion. In agree- 
ment with the speculation that all lofty objects must find 
their opposite in me, I represent the vices drawn up in ten 
categories, so as to stand over against the ten commandments. 
This conception produced at the time of the Eeformation a 
new creation of devils corresponding to the new forms of vice 
that arose in those days, and the ludicrous shapes it became 
fashionable to ascribe to me. Hence came the drunken devil, 
the gluttonous devil, the court devil, the school devil, the 
racing devil, the gambling devil, the cursing devil, the pan- 
taloon devil. 

Scarcely one of these popular creations is yet deceased, and 
the cursing devil has been lately placed in Saint Peters Chair. 
In Petersburg, "the gold devil" is a title unceremoniously 
ascribed to me, as a personification of the intense greed of the 
Pussian bureaucracy. According to an old legend, I divided 
my seven daughters ("the seven deadly sins 1 ' of the Eoman 
Church*) among the seven classes of men ; only harlotry re- 
mained, and in consequence that became universal. 

A step in the same direction had been set in another part 
of the world. When Christianity came to be planted among 
the Teutonic nations, whose genial nature unfitted them for 
the fierce and morose demonology produced by religious ear- 
nestness on Oriental speculations, it still produced an effect 
in the direction of diabolism, and that in importing into its 
mythology, with due changes, the whole pagan conception of 

* See "Legendes des Sept Peches Capitaux, par J. Collin de Plancy, 

owvrarje approme par Monseigneur V Archeveque de Paris." 



Satan's spouse. 



281 



Hel. This German goddess, who is pictured in the Frontis- 
piece, and whom I may call my spouse, corresponding to the 
Greek Persophone, as ruling in the heavens, was at first a 
light divinity, or the moon. This side of her nature is indi- 
cated by her name, which signifies to shine. She also spent 
nearly one-half of her time under the shades of night, and so 
was queen of the kingdom of darkness. Here was a dualism 
which, though it had none of the formidable absoluteness 
which attached to me in the Christian Church, furnished a 
germ out of which grew a two -fold nature on my behalf. And 
this qualified darkness of external form, denoting a similar 
partition of good and evil in my moral nature, well suited the 
less beclouded characteristics of the Teutonic races. Originally 
the goddess Hel fell into a demon and gave name to the realm 
of darkness (Helheim), with, in course of time, an additional 
letter, appearing in our Hell. But here, too, the original 
modifying power remained. The Hell of the German tribes, 
though gloomy, had its light side, and so differed from the 
ecclesiastical : 

dungeon horrible, on all sides round, 

As one great furnace flamed ; yet from those flames 

No light, but rather darkness visible 

Served only to discover sights of woe, 

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 

And rest can never dwell : hope never comes, 

That comes to all ; but torture without end 

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed 

With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed ; 

Such place eternal justice had prepared 

For these rebellious ; here their prison ordained 

In utter darkness ; and their portion set 

As far removed from God and light of heaven 

As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole. 

How different an idea of God had John Milton, when he 
drew that horrible picture, to what was entertained of the 
universal Father by the Holy and Loving One who spake the 



282 



SATAN AS MULTIFORM AS MEN. 



parable of the Prodigal Son, and forgave the woman heavy 
laden with sins because she loved much ! No wonder that 
religious communities which have so far departed from the 
God of its Founder, should also have gone so far in the dark 
and vengeful passions as to lay aside the less offensive view 
of their Teutonic progenitors, and paint me as sombre as their 
own priest-ridden natures. 

However, this extravagance does but aid to confute their 
view by taking my revenge in returning good for evil ; for 
the facts I have now been led to set forth go to relieve them, 
together with mortals generally, from that nightmare of fear 
of the devil under which they have all their lifetime been 
ignominiously kept (Heb. ii. 15). In what light do those facts 
place me 1 Am I not in every case an image and reflection 
of the minds of those in the midst of whom I arise, and by 
whom I am owned or worshiped ] Elack as charcoal to monks 
and misguided Protestants, I am at any rate half light among 
the northern tribes, and my domain, instead of being a fur- 
nace of fire, is more chilly than would be agreeable to such 
as find a good fire a luxury. " It became the hell where the 
old man hews wood for the Christmas fire, and where the 
devil, in his eagerness to buy the flitch of bacon, yields up 
the marvellous quern (mill) which is ■ good to grind almost any- 
thing.' It was not so pleasant, indeed, as heaven or the old 
Valhalla ; but it was better to be there than to be shut out in the 
outer cold beyond its padlocked gates. But more particularly 
the devil was a being who under a pressure of hunger might 
be drawn into acting against his own interest ; in other words, 
he might be outwitted; and this character of a poor or stupid 
devil is almost the only one exhibited in Teutonic legends. 
In fact, as Professor Max Miiller remarks, the Germans, when 
they had been indoctrinated with the ideal of a real devil, 
the Shemitic Satan or Diabolos, treated him in a most good- 
humoured manner : nor is it easy to resist Dr. Dasent's con- 
clusion, that c no greater proof can be given of the small hold 



SO MANY NAMES. SO MANY SATAN S. 



283 



which the Christian devil has taken of the Norse mind, than 
the heathen aspect under which he constantly appears, and 
the ludicrous way in which he is always outwitted.' "* 

The consideration which I have just adduced to shew that 
I am a changing quality and quantity, instead of a real, solid, 
permanent and everlasting personal devil, God's stoker over the 
ceaseless fires of the hell in which he for ever tortures and will 
torture a very large majority of his children for the disobe- 
dience of their great-great-great -grandmother, albeit "being born 
lame they can do nothing else than limp, — this consideration, 
namely, that, like the chameleon, I take colour and hue from 
every object near which I come, has already received tacit or 
express exemplifications, and might still be presented in forms 
as numerous as are the phases of culture or unculture under 
which I am acknowledged. As every hue and shape of the 
skies are reflected in the lakes and tarns of the earth all over 
its surface, so do 1 vary as often as the mind or heart changes 
which conceives or describes a conception of myself. I am 
indeed the universal changeling. One single name given me 
suffices to illustrate the transmigrations (far greater than those 
of Indra) through which I have passed and am passing. Called 
by the Greeks diabolos, I am Latinised into diabolus, Italian- 
ised into diavolo, Frenchified into diable, and Teutonised into 
a score of forms ; e.g., the Gothic tieval, Icelandic djofull, 
Swedish djeoful, German teufel, English devil. As many 
denominations, so many varieties. 

" To this devil were applied familiarly those epithets which 
are bestowed in the Yedic hymns on the antagonist of Indra. 
Like Vrita, he is often spoken of as the fiend or the enemy 
(6 Kovrjpog) ; more often he is described as 'the old devil' or 
serpent, the ealda deofol of Caedmon, 'the oldMck' and ' old 
Davy' of common English speech at the present day. Like 
Pani, he is Valant, the cheat or seducer, who appears in a 

* Norse Tales, Introduction, ciii. The quotation itself is taken from 
the instructive and truly modern (in thought) work by Mr. Cox, ' ' The 
Mythology of the Ayrian Nations," Yol. II. p. 362. 



284 



THE LIMPING SATAN. 



female form as Valandinne. But to the Germans the fall of 
the devil from heaven suggested the idea that, like Hephaistos 
(Vulcan), he must have been lamed by the descent, and hence 
we have the limping devil, or 4 devil upon two sticks,' who 
represents the limping Hephaistos not only in his gait but in 
his office. Like him, the Valant is a smith, and the name, 
which has assumed elsewhere the forms Faland, Phaland, 
Foland, Valland, passes into the English form Wayland, and 
gives us the AVayland smith whom Tresilian confronts in 
Scott's novel of Kenil worth. Like the robbers who steal 
Indra's cattle, he is also the dark, murky or black being, the 
Graumann or Greyman of German folk-lore. This black 
demon is the Slavonic Tschernebog (Zernebog, as in the Fron- 
tispiece) who is represented as the enemy of Bjelbog, the white 
god, — a dualism which Grimm' 1 ' regards as of late growth. 
Like the Fauns and other mythical beings of Greek and Latin 
mythology, he has a body which is either wholly or in part 
that of a beast. Some time he leaves behind him the print 
of a horse's hoof, and the English demon Grazt, another form 
probably of Greudel, shewed itself in the form of a devil. 
The devil of the witches was a black buck (compare bog, 
bogy, Bug, Puck) or goat ; that of the Fathers of the Chris- 
tian Church was a devouring wolf. Like Ahi, again, and 
Python, and Echidna, he is not only the old serpent or dragon, 
but the hell- worm, and the walfish or leviathan (a name in 
which we see again the Vala or deceiver). Like Baalzebub, he 
assumes the form of a fly, as Psyche may denote either a good 
or an evil spirit. As the hammer which crushes the world 
and inflicts the penalty of sin on the sinner, he plays the part 
of Aloadai and Thor Miolnir. As the guardian of the under- 
world, he is the hell-ward and the hell-shepherd or host. The 
same process which converted the kindly Holda into the ma- 
lignant Unholda, attributed to the devil occupations borrowed 
from those of the Teutonic Odin and the Greek Orion." 
"Lord of the dead," I am the ruler of Deadman's Land. 
* Deutsche Mythology, 936. 



SAT AX VARI-COLOURED. 



285 



Similar is the office I sustain in Brazil under the name of 
Aygnan, the evil divinity, and in Mexico as Mictlanteucli in 
the shades below. Xow I am the Samoan divinity Saveasinleo, 
ruler of the subterranean Bulotu, with a tail that stretches 
far away into the sea, in the shape of an eel or a serpent. 
The Samoyeds have contracted my name to the single vowel 
A, and given me a dwelling in impenetrable darkness, whence 
I send disease and death to men and reindeer.* You thus 
see, dear secretary, that I am of the composite order. Like 
a Mosaic, I am made up of vari-coloured bits and scraps bor- 
rowed from all sorts of men, all manners of fancies, all times 
and all ages. Scarcely is there a feature in my character, or 
a hue on my countenance, but has its correspondent in some 
ancient or modern myth. Generally coloured black, I am 
sometimes so painted that the black is penetrated by a scarlet 
glow, to represent the fire in which I dAvell and the blood I 
am said to shed ; while in China I appear in white, pure as 
a bride's attire; in the witch-trials of the middle ages, I am 
described as green, in allusion to my familiarity with the 
vegetable world in the shape of elves, satyrs, &c.t As with 
my person, so with my history. 

As my lameness has its original in the injury suffered by 
Vulcan when hurled down from Olympus by Jupiter, his 
offended father, so in the same fable is my own fall fore- 
shadowed, as well as in the overthrow of the ambitious 
Titans who conspired in order to scale the ramparts of 
heaven. In the Apocalypse (xx. 2), I am bound by an angel 
sent expressly for the purpose from heaven. The, event is 
already familiar to every grammar-school boy who has read 
the Prometheus Vinctus of the Greek dramatic poet zEschylus, 
written some four centuries before the book of Eevelation. 
Nor are our fates altogether unlike. My bondage arose from 
the displeasure of Elohim, his from the jealousy of Jupiter. 
I am shut up for a thousand years (though, by the way, for 

* Tylor's Primitive Culture, II. 280. 

f Cox's " Mythology of the Aryan Nations,'' II. 362, seq. 



286 



satan's degradation. 



the last eighteen centuries I have travelled at will all over 
the earth, my enemies being the judges) in a huge subterra- 
nean dungeon ; he was rivetted to Mount Caucasus. A bird 
of prey feasted on his vitals ; mine are consumed in vexation 
and woe. As if to shew beyond a doubt how fully I share 
human possibilities, the penalty inflicted on Abelard by Canon 
Eulbert was, if the Talmudic legend may be believed, in- 
flicted on me by Jehovah when I suffered castration at his 
hands. As, too, Ahriman, the evil principle of Parsism, is 
banished to the barren , steppes of Turan, so I, under the name 
of Typhon (the devil of the ancient Egyptians), have my 
dwelling-place, not in the ecclesiastical hell, but in the burn- 
ing and thirsty desert. Even the indignities put upon me 
recall and attest my human condition. What am I but a 
slave — a slave worse treated than any African negro ? Dis- 
charged from the service of God, I am degraded in being 
made a slave to men, whom, according to the ecclesiastical 
delusion, I wait on with hypocritical subjection, fawning and 
flattery, in order to entrap them by my wiles. 

Among the liberties taken with me is this, that my features 
are made objects of ridicule. Here the Egyptian antiquities 
afforded a most richly-furnished treasury. Heads of various 
animals borrowed thence were put on my shoulders, in order 
in part to make me ludicrous, in part to symbolize qualities 
ascribed to me either by the monks or the populace. Before 
all other members, my nose supplied an object for humour, bad 
and good, to comic writers of various sorts. In how many 
legends and popular tales am I insulted in being taken by the 
nose ! I give as an instance a concise report of that which 
is entitled Saint Dunstan and the Devil, rather because it 
serves to shew how events arising out of undue excitement in 
human beings were fathered on me. 

Saint Dunstan was in his way a great man. He was born 
in the isle of Glastonbury in the early part of the tenth cen- 
tury. Under impressions fostered, if not in a measure pro- 
duced, by this sacred spot, where history and fable combined 



SAINT DUNSTAN AND THE DEVIL. 



287 



to fill the mind with awe, and beautiful scenery* stimulated 
the intellect and refined the character, Dunstan, conscious of 
having royal blood flowing in his veins, became not only a 
scholar and a saint, but an enthusiast. His various studies 
over-excited his brain and brought on a fever. When the dis- 
order was at its height, being able to restrain himself no 
longer, he rushed out of his chamber and forced his way into 
the church. The efforts he had made and the tranquillizing 
associations of the sacred spot composed him into a slumber, 
out of which he awoke relieved of the delirium under which 
he had suffered. Assured of being under the restorative and 
reviving hand of God, he remained near the altar, still making 
progress toward recovery, until friends came in the morning 
and found him well. " A miracle ! a miracle I" they exclaimed, 
and the averment found a response in the deeply religious 
heart of the patient, who expressly confirmed the belief of 
his visitors, reporting to them a dream in which he had been 
chased by demons in the shape of mad dogs, whose fury was 
put a stop to by an angel. When quite recovered, he entered 
the court of king Athelstan. There he became an object of 
suspicion from his silent and secret ways, and from acts which 
were ascribed to intimacy with myself. At length he came 
to be regarded as a wizard. This imputation his friends 
denied. Then, said his enemies, "he can endure the test ; 
take him to the pond : if he sinks, he gets his desert ; if he 
floats, he is a wizard." Thrown into the water, he barely saved 
himself, and struggled on to the brink. Seeing he was about 
to escape, the intemperate youngsters who, half in mischief, 
half in earnest, were enjoying the sport, set their hounds upon 
him, and he escaped from death only by the loss of his senses. 
When partially recovered, he referred the whole to demoniacal 
rage. How escape the burning torches of these furies ? He 
must renounce the love he felt for a fair lady of the court — 
so said his uncle, then Bishop of Winchester. The consequent 
conflict brought on a third fever. As soon as he was out of 
it, he became a priest and a monk. Henceforth he lived as 



288 



SATAN SHOED. 



an anchorite. But it was a fearful conflict. With his sen- 
sitive nature, he could not help recurring to the loss he had 
suffered. Memory brought up all her virtues and attractions. 
He felt condemned, and imposed on himself severest penances. 
He prayed, he fasted, he wrought in his smithy. Yet every 
night he was beset, as the legend runs, by me, the reality being 
that he was overcome by his passions. Yielding to the con- 
ceits and fantasies in which he had been brought up, he 
thought he was visited by Satan, now in the orthodox form 
of a goat, now a wolf, and now a serpent. These unwelcome 
visitors he managed to keep at bay, and in this victory he 
was greatly aided by his manual labour. One night, however, 
when he was still working at his forge, he saw before him a 
young woman unclothed, and bearing the features of his lady- 
love. Contrary to her wont as much as to her nature, she tried 
to toy with him. Then he knew that it was not she, but I. 
^Thereupon he seized his red-hot tongs and tweaked me by 
the nose so fiercely, that I ran off with the utmost speed. Such, 
at least, is the report he made when next day he was ques- 
tioned as to the horrible screaming and howling that had 
awakened his neighbours in the dead of the night. 

Another version of the revenge the Saint took adds to my 
histoiy another metamorphosis. The fable runs, that hearing 
Dunstan play on the harp in his cell, I set up a terrific howl- 
ing, and began to chaff the holy musician. Even saints are 
not perfect, and, losing his temper, he resolved to shoe my 
hoof as if I were a horse. Little suspecting what impended, I 
sauntered next morning into his smithy, and good-naturedly 
wished him success in his sooty employment. " I have had 
enough of your impudence," said he. Bushing unexpectedly 
on me, he seized me by my leg and applied the shoe burning 
hot to my right foot. 

The Saint no pity bad on Xiek, 

But drove long nails right through the quick ; 
Louder shreaked he, and faster. 

Duncan cared not ; his bitter grin, 

Without mistake, shewed Father Sin 
He had found a ruthless master. 



THE EFFICACY OF THE HORSE-SHOE. 



289 



And having driven, clenched and filed, 
The Saint reviewed his work, and smiled 

With cruel satisfaction ; 
And jeering said, "Pray, ere you go, 
Dance me the pas seul named 'Jim Crow/ 

With your most graceful action. " 

To tell how Horney yelled and cried, 
And all the artful tricks he tried, 

To ease his tribulations, 
Would more than fill a bigger book 
Than ever author undertook, 

Since the book of Lamentations. 

What, continues the legend, did not I offer Saint Dunstan, 
would he only set me free ! Sternly refusing all, he exacted, 
from me, as the sole terms he would accept, my signature to 
the following bond : 

' 'To all good folk in Christendom to whom this instrument shall come, 
the Devil sendeth greeting : Know ye that for himself and heirs 
said Devil covenants and declares, that never at morn nor evening 
prayers, at chapel, church or meeting, never where concords of sweet 
sound, sacred or social, flow around, or harmony is wooed, nor where 
the Horse-shoe meets his sight, on land or sea, by day or night, on 
lowly sill or lofty pinnacle, on bowsprit, helm, mast, boom or 
pinnacle, said Devil will intrude." 

The horse-shoe now saves keel and roof 
From visits of this rover's hoof, 

The emblem seen preventing. 
He recks the bond, but more the pain, 
The nails went so against the grain, 

The rasp was so tormenting.* 

"TVhich is true, the tweaked nose or the shoed hoof ?" 
did you ash, my pupil 1 I thought you had heard enough to 
decide, without my aid, that the one is as true as the other — 
or indeed any part of my alleged personal history. 

There is no virtue rarer on this earth of yours than impar- 

* " The Legend of the Horse-shoe ; the True Legend of Saint Dunstan 
and the Devil , shewing how the Horse-shoe came to be a Charm against 
Witchcraft." Third edition. London : Bell and Daldy. 

U 



290 satan's lineage very ancient. 

tiality. An old proverb says, " Give the devil "his due." In 
my multiform reading of books and manuscripts I have looked 
for something like my " due." In vain. They are ecclesi- 
astical pens for the most part that have described me, and 
they are dipped in nothing but gall. Lately, however, I came 
on an exception. It is from the pen of a humorous layman ; 
but it is too acceptable to me not to be put before your eyes ; 
and here, where I am speaking of "my Transformations," 
is the right place, for it does truly shew a new phase of my 
character : 

" Various beyond all conception or computation have been 
the conjectures entertained and the opinions promulgated by 
different nations and different men of every nation and tribe, 
respecting the nature and character of the devil ; and it is 
a singular fact that in those countries and places where his 
dominion is known to be particularly established and himself 
worshiped, he is more frequently and extensively misrepre- 
sented. This doubtless proceeds from his having occasion to 
vary the shapes he is in the habit of assuming, as well as the 
mode of his proceeding, for the general purposes of his govern- 
ment, oftener in proportion to the degree of civilization and 
refinement at which his subjects may have arrived, and the 
consequent increased demand upon his attention and subtlety. 
Detection or a knowledge of his true nature being rendered 
more difficult, by being more dependent upon his actions than 
any particular form he might appear in, his character is 
constantly being vilified and misrepresented by a host of 
devils incarnate (or sublunary devils), who are in the habit of 
laying to the account of ' Our Hero' every atrocity of their 
own, and passing themselves off as saints among the better 
class of God's creatures. 

" So many wild and fanciful stories have indeed been told 
of him, and people have figured him in their imaginations in 
so many horrible and monstrous shapes, that the devil him- 
self might reasonably be frightened at his own deformities. 
Happily, however, he has at all times had a few friends, par- 



SUMMARY OF SATAN'S TITLES. 



201 



ticularly among the clergy, who have been enabled, by the 
eminence of their station and the force of example, to check 
the impositions practised to his prejudice ; and if they have 
not secured to him that respect which they believe to be his 
due, they have at least acquired for him a more than tacit 
acknowledgment of his attributes and power. That he is a 
prince of ancient and noble lineage, and superior to all human 
pretensions on the score of birth and family connections, is 
beyond all question. Although fallen from that high estate, 
he has not ceased to be powerful and omniscient, and he is 
far more entitled to the respect which his origin claims for him 
than many aristocrats of our generation, whose fallen fortunes 
have left them nothing but their blood to boast of. If indeed 
titles give rank, there is no disputing his pre-eminence over 
mortals, however high their bearing ; and even his Grace of 
Wellington, with all his honours, falls in the scale of com- 
parison with him to a degree of plebeian insignificance. 
Besides being an honorary member of the different orders 
known among men, the following titles form but a small por- 
tion of the number by which he has been designated : 

" The Devil ! 

is 

( Bel-AUon) the mighty lord ! god of this world ! 
(Bel-Geh) the lord of health !— (Bel-Ial) Belial, lord of the 
opposition ! 
( Baal-Zebub ) lord of the scorpion ! 
(Baal-Berith ) lord of the covenant ! — ( Baal-Peor ) lord of 
the aperture ! 

( Baal-Perizim ) lord of divisions ! — ( Baal-Zephon ) lord of 
the north ! 
( Baal-Samen ) lord of heaven ! 
( Adoni-BezeJc ) lord of glory ! — Moloch-ZedeTc, Melchizedech. 
King of righteousness ! 
Angel of light ! — Prince of darkness ! 
Prince of the power of the air ! — Angel of the bottomless pit ! 



292 SATAN XOT A PERSON THE VERDICT OF ART. 



Lucifer, son of the morning ! — The day-star ! 
The great red dragon ! — Accuser of the brethren ! — The 

tempter ! 
The serpent ! — The scorpion ! 
The foul spirit ! — The unclean spirit ! — The lying spirit ! 
Satan ! — Mammon ! 
Abaddon ! 
Legion ! 

"And among his more modern titles are the following, some 
of which are complimentary, others scarcely so : 
The Old Gentleman ! 
Old Gooseberry !— Old Nick !— Old Bogy ! 
Old Harry ! —The old Fellow !— The old One ! 
The Gentleman in Black !"* 
In conclusion I remark, that one epithet of which I am 
proud, and which I desire to make prominent, as obscurely 
denoting my human origin, was not so long ago prevalent in 
Scotland, and still lingers in the phrase, "The Goodman's 
Croft," being the corner of a field left untilled expressly for 
my advantage. + This is one of the very few civilities I have 
received. 



CHAPTEK II. 

AM I A PERSON OR AM I A POWER i THE VERDICT OP ART. 

You have already seen that I am the product of man's 
imagination excited and controlled by external nature. I 
intend at this point to expand that fact a little, with a view to 
expose the groundless fiction of my being a person. In so 
doing, I make a specific appeal to ancient and modern Art in 

* From the Introduction to " The Real Devil's Walk." 
f Tylors Primitive Culture, II. 370. 



THE ANIMISM OF NATURE INCLUDES SAT AX. 



293 



its statues, images, pictures and emblems, as they are scattered 
up aud down in museums, galleries, ruins, and as represented 
to the eye in the rich and varied literature of Iconography. 
It is a wide subject. I can find room for only a few sentences. 
And I place them here because they supply a decisive proof 
of both my non-personality and my decline. 

The majestic spectacle of nature ; the dazzling lustre of the 
sun; the myriads of stars which move and sparkle in the 
immensity of space ; the manifest and invariable regularity 
of their revolutions ; the influence they exercise on the seasons 
of the year, on the life and growth of animals and vegetables ; 
the numberless properties of the elements ; the mysteries of 
the senses, of the passions, of thought, memory, imagination ; 
of dreams and visions ; the marvellous phenomena connected 
witli generation — the great whole must have struck primaeval 
races with wonder and admiration, leading to the belief that 
the world was full of animated existences some way resembling, 
but far surpassing, themselves. This bright side of nature 
had its dark side. The two in combination produced the 
u lords many and gods many" of the ancient world, including 
myself, "the prince of darkness." Over this celestial and 
diabolic hierarchy there were " thrones, dominions, princi- 
palities and powers." These were the particular objects which, 
from their magnitude and brilliancy, most struck the minds of 
men. The sun, that radiant and ever-burning mass of light, 
all but intolerable to man's eyes, with its fecundating action 
on all that vegetates and breathes on the surface of the earth, 
ruling in the heavens without peer or rival, received the 
earliest homage as " the king," " the king of day," the supreme 
monarch of heaven and earth. The recognition at first was as 
of a real living being ; what we term a person. Xext, but at 
a great distance, stands the moon, in some mysterious way 
dependent on the sun ; inferior in magnitude and in splen- 
dour, yet not without a soft brilliancy and a fostering influ- 
ence. T\ hat is this but " the queen of heaven," and as such 
the spouse of the sun? Bending his knee to these divinities, 



294 



ARE THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC PERSONS ? 



man soon learnt to worship, as members of the divine family, 
the wandering stars, the fixed stars, especially the constella- 
tions. In them we possess a permanent proof that the astral 
"bodies were all regarded and adored as intelligent beings. The 
very name Zodiac denotes something that lives. I transcribe 
its twelve signs, together with the figures or emblems by which 
they are denoted : 

1. Aries T 5 the Earn, denotes the month of March, when, 

as the phrase is, the sun enters this sign. 

2. Taurus 8 , the Bull, denotes the month of April. 

3. Gemini n, the Twins, corresponding with May. 

4. Cancer 2o, the Crab, with June. 

5. Leo SI, the Lion, with July. 

6. Virgo n#, the Virgin, with August. 

7. Libra the Balance, with September. 

8. Scorpio HI, the Scorpion, with October. 

9. Sagittarius $ , the Archer, with November. 

10. Capricornus yj 5 , the Goat, with December. 

11. Aquarius zz, the TVater-bearer, with January. 

12. Pisces X, the Fishes, corresponding with February. 

These names were severally given in obedience to some 
assumed quality or function of the heavenly body, or rather 
divinity, in each case. Thus the Water-bearer, into which 
the sun enters in January, refers to the heavy rains of winter; 
the Archer, half-man and half-horse, armed with a bow, indi- 
cates the hunting season; while the Balance signifies the equal 
length of day and night, as though they had been weighed 
and adjusted. Eesemblance too is the ground of the figured 
signs as well as the names. Thus the Earn is symbolized 
under a pair of ram's horns, and the Bull under a bull's head 
and horns. The same law of resemblance prevails throughout 
both the lettered accounts and the figured representatives of 
the divinities of polytheism in general. To you the resem- 
blance may appear imperfect and faint. Yon must bear in 
mind that you live in a different age and in a different climate. 



SATAN A VANISHING PHANTASM, 



29J 



The very fact that this explanation is called for to make 
my meaning clear, suffices to shew that all these divinities are 
no divinities at all, but now simply signs of vanished realities, 
those realities having existed, not in the skies, hut in the 
human brain. Persons once, they long remained powers ; but 
with the passing away of " the dark ages," they have ceased to 
be powers, and are now nothing more than shadows. 

Their history is my history • their fate is my fate ; and my 
career, like that of my several brothers and sisters, would have 
been run long ago, but for a class of men whose chief func- 
tions depended on my personal existence. The astrologers 
are gone, the priests are going. And as astrology has been 
succeeded by astronomy, so will Satanism be succeeded by 
Christ. 

In the argument thus offered to you, the principal point is 
the original personality of these constellations severally. I 
will therefore add a few additional particulars. 

The greater number of these twelve signs of the zodiac, 
or belt of animated beings, greatly exercised and quickened 
the imaginations .of the ancients, and in particular those of 
their theologians and poets. After having been immolated to 
the supreme god, Jupiter (Father of the Day), the ram, the 
Greeks said, was placed among the stars, that is among the 
gods, and specially in the zodiac. For a long time the ram was 
at once the beginning and the end of the year, and during 
that period his rich fleece is sought after by the fifty-two Argo- 
nauts, figuring the fifty-two weeks, and the mighty Hercules, 
with his twelve labours, personification of the sun-god as he 
toils through the cycle of the twelve months. This allegory 
of the annual revolution of the head of the planetary system 
needs no special explanation. 

" The heavenly bull," which in an earlier age came, like 
the ram, at the spring equinox, plays a not less important 
part in the different mythologies. The Hindoos have their 
bull Nandi ; the Japanese, the bull which breaks the egg of 
the world ; the Persians, the bull Mithra. Among the Egyp- 



296 



LIKE JUPITER, AHRIMAN, THE SERPEXT. 



tians he was worshiped under the name of Apis ; and to pre- 
vent his being taken for a vulgar and perishable animal, he 
wore on his hide several supernatural emblems ; on his tongue, 
the likeness of a scarabeus or sacred beetle ; on his back, that 
of an eagle ; on his shoulders, the crescent moon ; on the 
rest of his body, divers tokens of the generative faculty ; in 
all twenty-nine characters or symbolical attributes, a number 
equal to the days of the moon, or Isis in the form of a cow, to 
which the Bull was united and consecrated. The Lion, says 
iElian, contains in himself an abundance of fiery matter which 
caused the Egyptians to consecrate him to Yulcan, the god of 
fire ; they also placed him in the skies, that he might be the 
abode of the sun, and the sign at which that luminary arrives 
in the great heats of summer. The Lion often figures in 
the sacred legends of antiquity. Hercules kills the demean 
lion. It is a lion that Cybele commits to the guardianship of 
the faithless Atys. In Egypt, the lion was specially honoured, 
because the Nile overflowed at the epoch when the chariot 
of the sun touches the sign appropriated to that symbolical 
animal. My sign, or Ophiacus, the Serpent or Scorpion, holds 
a high position among the constellations. The celestial Ser- 
pent comes to the horizon at the time when the sun reaches 
the Balance, that is in autumn. At this moment the Persian 
magi fixed the beginning of the reign of Ahriman, or of dark- 
ness and cold, the introduction of evil into the universe. Ac- 
cordingly the Serpent represented the Persian Ahriman, the 
Egyptian* Typhon, the Greek Pluto, the Scandinavian Loki, 
and in due course the English Devil. As those have vanished 
into thin air, so will this. The serpent accompanies iEsculapius 
at the moment of his " descent into hell." Typhon and Pluto 
assume the form of a serpent. Vishnu, a member of the Hindoo 
trinity, appears in paintings and sculptures lying on the ser- 
pent Adissechen. The serpent is an object of profound vene- 
ration in India, in Japan, in China. He was worshiped by 
the Egyptians, the Phenicians, the Greeks. Equally was he 
venerated at Kome, at Lavinium, among the Northern nations 



M ED LEV AL MORA L HI ES. 



207 



— Prussians, Lithuanians, Norwegians, Russians. He received 
divine honours among the Mexicans • and he does so still 
among the tribes of Africa. 

There might almost have been an inkling in the olden time 
of the truth I have repeatedly asserted, to the effect that, as the 
child of man, I have a good side in me no less than a bad one. 
Does not fire burn up tares and refuse, purifying the land, 
the air and the home ? As an emblem of the igneous prin- 
ciple residing in the ether, the Phenicians called me Agatho- 
demon, or the good divinity; and as the serpent of Apollo I 
instructed the Greeks by the oracles which I spoke. 

The natural tendency to personification to which these fig- 
ments owe their origin is exemplified in the religious plays of 
the middle ages, termed Moralities. In their scenes, not only 
virtues and vices appear in the shape of allegorical figures, 
but personifications of moral qualities and moral conditions of 
all sorts ; also of abstract ideas, and that in marvellous inter- 
mixture with real characters borrowed from the sacred history. 
These are placed on the stage in order to unfold a portion of 
Biblical history, or to set forth and uphold positions, whether of 
scholastic or scriptural ethics, in their application to the con- 
cerns of daily life. In " The Carriage of the Soul with Jesus," 
the spectators behold impersonations of Love, Truth, Illumi- 
nation, Righteousness, and the seven deadly sins sustain parts 
in union with the Soul, Jesus and the Daughters of Zion. 
Other dramatic pieces exhibit human life in conflict with 
virtuous propositions and vicious inclinations. On other occa- 
sions the boards are occupied with personifications of Wealth 
Lasciviousness, Desire, Pride, Haughtiness, Beauty, Strength 
which wage war on personifications of the corresponding virtues, 
until at last there enter, as the sole sufficient helpers of men, 
Confession, Penance and the Mass. In the same way the 
manners of the times are depicted and chastised. ■ 

And now cast your eye on the various portraits which I 
have had drawn of myself, and which offer themselves in 
the Frontispiece. My favourable likeness does not appear 



298 



THE FRONTISPIECE EXPLAINED. 



among them. The reason is, I wished to present the image 
of Christ under the advantageous light of a broad contrast. 
The principal lesson these figures are intended to teach is, 
that they are figures and figures only, standing for nothing 
in reruni natura, hut eidwXa, films of human conceit, fancy 
and fear. Yes; the diabolic hierarchy with which ancient 
ignorance and superstition peopled what was called hell, has 
sunk into phantasms ; nay, lower, into lines and curves in 
printed books ; no less than the astral hierarchy which had 
the same parentage : 

Sol oritur, diffugiunt umbrse. 

The Frontispiece of itself suffices to shew that I am not a 
person, but a power, and a vanishing power. I say of itself, 
for it has a representative character. It contains the pith of 
a very large and very diverse amount of diabolical imagery, 
which is intended to set before human eyes, and so before 
human minds, the princes, kings and queens of the invisible 
world, as figured by artistic imagination in different periods of 
the world and various stages of culture. To make the logical 
appeal complete, I ought to have included a selection of ac- 
knowledged monstrosities, such as griffins, sphinxes, mer- 
maids, &c, which are pure creations of man's phantasy. With 
these figures you are, however, familiar enough for my pur- 
pose. Well, then, call up in your mind the figments to which 
I have referred, and then cast your eye over the whole Fron- 
tispiece, excepting the central figure. Compare the two care- 
fully together, and tell me wherein they differ. Are they not 
all — these as well as those — conceptions of the human mind ] 
mere conceptions of the human mind ? Are they not human 
attempts to embody in visible form certain dark sides of human 
nature 1 They represent, not objective realities, but subjective 
modes of thought. They are images, not personalities ; they 
are emblems or symbols, that is visible signs, of — what? 
Eeal beings ? for instance, the mermaid 1 or the satyr % Eut 
if not the mermaid or the satyr, then why of Hades % why of 



THE FRONTISPIECE DISPROVES SATAN'S PERSONALITY. 29S> 



Herli Khan? consequently, why of Satan 1 ? Does Satan's 
court there pictured contain real living courtiers 1 or the 
fancies of some monkish brain infested with demonological 
bugbears 1 A few particulars will make the matter still more 
clear. 

Figures one, two and three, contain the elements which 
constitute figure four. Here in brief you see my natural 
history. Mr. Darwin tells us that man is but a full-grown 
monkey. So you are here taught that Satan (4) is but an 
evolution of the Goat (1), the Dawn (1), the Satyr (3), and 
Pan (2). In other words, the Satan of the Churches is, with 
other pagan aid, an amalgam of the classic conceits incorpo- 
rated in these figures. So obvious is the fact, that I need not 
enter into particulars ; only I must explain one or two of my 
attributes as there pictured. Horns, you see, I wear ; but in 
this figure the horns are not those of a goat, but those of a 
serpent. What have you here but the old and recognized 
symbol of diabolical cunning ? Then those expanded wings 
on my shoulders, and those smaller wings on my feet, are 
nothing more than loans from the pagan god Mercury, who 
received them from the symbols of the Medo-Persian mytho- 
logy. In his case as well as my own, they denote celerity. 
And here I must add, that these symbols declare very imper- 
fectly the qualities which ecclesiastical fancy ascribes to me ; for 
it not only makes me move hither and thither with incredible 
velocity, such as no wings can give, and which only the elec- 
tric telegram can represent, but it also describes me as carrying 
on my business at the same moment in at least every part of 
the habitable globe. In one sense, the notion has a raison 
d'etre. Inasmuch as I am the dark side of humanity, so do 
I exist and operate wherever a human being is found. But 
then the fact implies that I am not a person, but a power. 

The same conclusion ensues from another consideration. 
The Frontispiece in its contents represents very diverse degrees 
of culture. What more diverse indeed than the degrees of 
elevation involved in the classic figures on one side (1 — 3 



300 



SATAN A DISTORTION OF MAN'S MIND. 



and 8) and the Calmuck devil (Zernebog, 6) and tlie Slavonic 
(Herli Khan, 7) on the other 1 

Had I been able to give a greater number of artistic illus- 
trations, I could have made this argument all but universal, so 
as to put it beyond a doubt that every nation, tribe and clan, 
makes each its own devil, and makes him out of the diversified 
elements of its own brain. Thus is it that in all these imita- 
tions I am but likenesses of my creators, who, being them- 
selves human, can endow me only with human forms, faculties 
and attributes. Manifestly, then, I have no other personality 
than is reflectedfrom those ever-varying images and distortions. 
Consequently, I am of necessity an evanescent being. As 
humanity improves, I lose the murky and furious elements of 
my character. When meridian sunshine comes in the heart 
of the human species, I shall be as bright as a seraph. The 
root of good in me will have grown into pure and beneficent 
man. 

This most desirable issue is foreshadowed in 11, the half- 
light, half-dark figure of Hel, and foretold in the character, 
the attitude and the mission of the central figure, Christ* (10), 
who has under his feet, not myself and my captains merely (9), 
but the principal symbols of devilry, that is the serpent, the 
basilisk, the lion and the dragon, thus predicting his final 
casting the demons out of the universe by the innate and 
cleansing virtue of his life, death and ever-growing, ever-en- 
during sway : 

" Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder ; 
The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet." 
(Ps. xci. 13.) 
" The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, 
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid, 

And a little child shall lead them. 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; 
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, 
As the waters cover the sea." (Is. xi.) 

* This figure is from an Italian ivory of the tenth century, as given in 
Didron's Histoire de Dieu . 



THE ALL-SUBDUING CHRIST. 



301 



A few more explanatory words must be subjoined. 

Sheva (5). The Ahriman of Persia and the Satan of ecclesi- 
asticism, are too concrete and definite for the genuine Hindoo 
mind. Hence its art presents no figure which can be strictly 
considered as the counterpart of me, although Vitra, Yama, 
and still more Mahasura, each has features in common with 
myself. I have consequently directed my engraver to present 
a figure of Sheva, who, as the destructive power in the Hindoo 
Trimurti or Trinity, wears symbols which more nearly describe 
the ferocity which is my chief characteristic, as pictured in 
the " fire-and-brimstone theology" of old-fashioned orthodoxy. 

Hades (8), the king of the dead, sits in the cut receiving 
homage from his ghostly subjects as they descend into his 
invisible dominions, the shades where dwell the shadows. Like 
Hindooism, the Hellenic religion was little inclined to the 
clearly-defined and robust Satanism of the middle ages and 
the darker days of modern times. The two figures, 8 and 4, 
not unaptly characterize the spirit of the two religions, of which 
they adumbrate the shady side. This, put into other words, 
declares that the spirit of Hellenism is preferable to the spirit 
of Satanism. Accordingly you will look in vain in this monarch 
of the pagan hell for anything like the truculent rage of Sheva, 
much less of Herli Khan. Yet you may there rind an illus- 
tration of a subterranean prince spoken of in Book vii. Chap- 
ter iv. Hades as a personification seems to be referred to in 
the original (Hades) for the term Grave of 1 Cor. xv. 55. 

The all-conquering Christ (10) shews Jesus as treading 
under foot man's great enemies, as symbolized by destructive 
beasts, and by Satan seated on the throne of his power and 
attended by representatives of his aristocracy. Here I appear 
in all my attributes. The fulness and completeness of my 
prerogatives are denoted by the threefold forms which crown 
my head, and shine forth from my breast and my knees. This 
triune honour was paid to me as the antithesis of the triune 
God of the schools and the churches. 

Finally, the picture presented on the cover of the volume, 



302 



FIGURE OF THE CONTEST OF GOOD AND EVIL. 



copied from Airy SchaefTer's " Temptation," symbolizes to the 
eye the substance of its contents in presenting the great con- 
test of good and evil which still proceeds in the world, and of 
which the final issue is predicted and guaranteed by the divine 
heroism of " the Son of God" and " the Son of Man." 



CHAPTER III. 

AM I A PERSON OR AM I POWER ? — THE CRUCIAL TEST. 

In the course of my autobiographical narratives I have laid 
before you, my diligent pupil, various considerations which 
conspire to prove that I am not a person, but a power. Before 
I set my foot on the ladder down which I am about to descend 
to the level of my fellow-men, I have asked myself whether 
there is any actual test of my impersonality so clear as to 
satisfy the least easily persuaded persons. I will lay one before 
you. 

Were I a person, I should have access to the minds of men 
as men, that is all men indifferently. But there is a class of 
men whose minds are barred against me. Yet these men are 
not better than their neighbours. Vice, then, does not depend 
on my personality. Men may be vicious and not be seduced 
by me. But if vice is in one case independent of me, it must 
be so in all. It follows, that vice as such is independent 
of me. Whence then is it ? Yice exists — whence but from 
vicious hearts i In other words, there is in human nature a 
proneness to moral evil, which, considered on the wide area 
of humankind, may be called a power. That power I am. 
In order to establish this position, I must exhibit the excep- 
tion to which I have referred. The Roman Catholic clergy 
transmute what they call a " child of the devil" into a " child 
of God" by the sacrament of baptism, and by other sacra- 



MY POWER FOR EVIL IS INTRINSIC, 



303 



nients secure that child, as holy in the eyes of Mother 
Church, an entrance into paradise. And even should the 
personal devil intrude upon their own domain, they possess 
means to drive him out in the efficacy of their exorcising 
power. This exorcism, open to all on certain sacerdotally 
enjoined conditions, is actually in the hands of the priests 
themselves, who, of course, are accordingly free from my per- 
sonal influence. And yet, while actually unpolluted "by me, 
they nevertheless are polluted. By what 1 I being excluded, 
by themselves. There is no alternative. But if they are 
vicious, though exempt from my control, other men are the 
same, for man is man under every clime and in every garb. 
It follows, that sacerdotal misconduct eliminates the devil and 
drives him out of the world of realities. 

My crucial test, then, will be complete when I have shewn 
two things — first, that the priests of Eome are doubly guarded, 
being guarded by their sacraments and guarded by their 
power of exorcism. The first charm drives out Satan and 
keeps him at a distance through life ; the second is an ex- 
ceptional remedy against a possible disaster. Should Satan 
make his way into a priest, he is banished by exorcism. Their 
sacraments are too well known to be gone into in detail. 
Exorcism I shall describe. And moreover I shall say some- 
thing of the morals of the Eoman clergy thus guarded and 
preserved from Satanic depravation. 

The Ordination of an Exorcist. TJie Bishop's Address. 

" 0, dearest son, thou art to be ordained to the office of an 
Exorcist, and must be taught what thou under takest. It is 
the function of an Exorcist to expel the demons, and to say 
to the people that he who does not communicate, gives place 
to them. Eeceive power, then, of laying hands on those who 
are possessed ; and by the imposition of thy hands, by the 
grace of the Holy Spirit, and by the words of the exorcism,' 
unclean spirits are expelled from the bodies of the possessed. 
Study therefore that, as thou expellest the devils from the 



304 



FOR IT IS EXERCISED IN ROMAN PRIESTS. 



bodies of others, thou niayest cast out all uncleanness and sin 
from thy mind and body, lest thou fall a victim to him whom 
thou drivest from others by thy ministry. Learn by thy office 
to command the vices, lest the enemy may have any part in 
thy character. For then wilt thou rule over other demons 
when thou hast first overcome all their wickedness in thyself: 
which may God by his Spirit grant thee to perform. 

" Receive, then, and possess the power of laying hands on 
demoniacs, whether baptized or catechumens.'' 

Prayer. 

" Holy £ord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, condescend to 
bless this thy servant in the office of the Exorcists ; that, 
by the imposition of his hands and the words of his mouth, 
he may possess the power and authority of coercing unclean 
spirits, so as that, being built up in the grace of healing and 
in celestial strength, he may become an approved physician in 
thy Church. We ask it by our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, 
who lives and reigns with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
God throughout all ages. Amen."* 

That the power thus communicated inheres in the priest so 
long as it is not formally taken away by the episcopal autho- 
rity by which it is given, appears in 

The Form for degrading an Exorcist. 

After the Book of Exorcisms has been taken from the cul- 
prit, the degrading bishop uses these words : 

" We remove from thee the power of laying hands on pos- 
sessed persons, and of expelling demons from their bodies, the 
function of exorcising being wholly interdicted to thee." 

Over priests, then, it is clear I have no power except by their 
own permission. Consequently you here possess a decisive 
argument whether or not I am a person, or the creation of 
men's own fond imaginations. As I, the cause of all evil, 

* Pontificale Ronianum Summorum Pontificum jussu Editura. Mech- 
linese, 1855. 



IMMORALITIES CONNECTED WITH PAPAL PRIESTS 305 



have no independent power over priests, priests are of course 
free from my baneful influence. In other words, they are 
" holiness to the Lord." What, however, has fact to say to this 
conclusion ? The conclusion is contradicted by history in the 
most emphatical manner. Hence it follows that sacerdotal 
wickedness springs from the man, and not the devil. In other 
words, every priest, having the power to expel me, may have, 
and many of them have actually, another devil in their own 
vitiated nature. 

Observances of the darkest kind wound their, sluggish and 
pestiferous way through the Christian Church during many 
centuries on toward the revival of letters. Civil as well as 
ecclesiastical legislation strove, and strove mostly in vain, to 
arrest the black flood. How, indeed, could the Church act 
with effect when, by upholding me, it perpetuated the foul 
source whence the polluting waters came ? A monk or a nun 
who had been guilty of self-pollution threw the blame on me 
or some of my imps, and, having relieved himself or herself 
in conscience, easily paid the light penalties imposed by the 
father confessor or the Penitentiary of the Church. 

Indeed, there exist volumes* which, coming down from 
the sixth to the later centuries, and containing the nicely gra- 
duated penalties for misdeeds committed by ordinary or sacer- 
dotal disciples, shew how terribly criminal the times were and 
how fearfully corrupt was the Church. The vilest deeds I 
must pass unmentioned. 

I proceed to quote from the source just referred to, and 
in particular from a Penitentiary of the 9th century, entitled 
Pcenitentidle Pseudo-Theodori, Chapter iii. 

" On Fornication by the Clergy, 
" 1. Bishops, priests, deacons, committing fornication, in 
virtue of the canon shall lose their rank and do penance, ac- 
cording to episcopal judgment, yet they may take the com- 

* Die Bussordungen der Abendlandischen Kirche, von Dr. F. W. H, 
Wasserschleben. 1 vol. 8vo, Halle, 1851, 

X 



306 AS SET FORTH IN OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 

munion. 2. Bishops, priests, deacons, monks, sub-deacons, 
and other clergy, together with all such as are dedicated to 
God, imitating fornication, shall, if clerks, do penance for v 
years, ii on bread and water \ deacons and monks, yiii years, 
iv on bread and water ; priests, x years on bread and water ; 
bishops, xii years, vii on bread and water. In the same 
way nuns shall do penance if they voluntarily imitate for- 
nication with such persons. 3. But if, which God forbid, 
bishops, priests, deacons, monks, sub-deacons, and other clergy, 
beget sons with nuns, then the penance must be augment- 
ed thus : clerks shall do penance for vi years, iii on bread 
and water; sub-deacons, viii years, iv on bread and water ; 
deacons and monks, for x years, v on bread and water ; 
priests, xii years, vii on bread and water • bishops, xv years, 
viii on bread and water. After the same manner the nuns 
must Ao penance. Eut if they die during their punishment, 
they must do penance as long as they live. 4. Whatever 
bishops, priests, deacons, monks, sub-deacons and other clergy 
commit adultery with other men's wives, let them do penance 
— clerks, v years on bread and water ; deacons and monks, 
vii years, iv on bread and water \ priests, x years, v on 
bread and water. If, however, they procreate children, then 
the penance must be augmented as is above laid down. 
5. If any clerk who has a wife and lies with her after his 
reception of the honour of priesthood, let him know that he 
commits adultery, and let him do penance according to the 
scale already given. 6. A priest or deacon, if he marries 
another man's wife, is to be deposed in the conscience of the 
people. Eut if he commits adultery with her, he shall be 
cast out of the Church and do penance among laymen as long 
as he lives. 7. Bishops, priests, deacons, monks, sub-deacons, 
and other clergy, imitating fornication with lay women, that 
is with widows or girls, shall do penance ; clerks for iv years, 
i on bread and water ; sub-deacons, v years, iii on bread and 
water ; priests, viii, iv on bread and water ; bishops, x, v on 
bread and water. In the same way those females shall do 



IMMORALITY INEVITABLE IN PAPISM. 



307 



penance, if they are joined with such clerical persons, accord- 
ing to the rank of each, since the Christian religion forbids 
fornication equally to both sexes. 8. But if", with a view to 
concealment, they put their children thus begotten to death, 
the ancient law extends to the end of life the punishment 
not only of those women, but expels from the Church such 
women as procure abortion ; but now it is more humanely 
decreed that they do penance for x years. 9. If a bishop 
commits fornication with a quadruped, let him do penance vii 
years ; a priest, v ; a deacon or a monk, iv • a sub- deacon, iii ; 
a clerk, ii. If they are accustomed to the crime, let a bishop 
do penance x years, iv on bread and water ; a priest, vii years, 
iii on bread and water ; a deacon or a monk, v, ii on bread 
and water ; a sub-deacon, iv, i on bread and water • a clerk, 
iii, half a year on bread and water." 

The priesthood of the ninth century is reproduced by the 
priesthood of the nineteenth, only with the difference of such 
mitigations and such concealments and secrecy as are occa- 
sioned or necessitated by the improvements of modern social 
life in moral virtue and external decency. In the main, 
Popery is as corrupt and as corrupting now as of old. It is 
so from its very nature, being the enslavement of the human 
mind to the worship of man in that which is for himself and 
others his lowest form, namely, an infallible, impeccable and 
irreformable, unmarried and unmarriable priesthood, partly 
secular, partly regular. The crown* of this rotten edifice is the 
Pope. He is the concentrated essence of priestism. He of 
all others is secured against my wiles. The very temple of 
the Holy Ghost on earth, he has full power to set me at 
nought. Yet what is his character ? He over whom I have 
no influence is surely free from vice. He must be so if I am 
the author of all evil. What if he prove to be the reverse ] 
Then human nature, apart from the devil, is capable of every 
kind and every degree of wickedness. This is my principal 
position. Man is his own devil. Witness the history of the 
Papacy. That history I am familiar with, and I solemnly 

x 2 



308 



THE PAPACY 



CONDEMNED 



BY PROVIDENCE. 



declare that had I constructed the Papacy with my own hands, 
and were I the personal devil of priestly description and 
popular delusion, I could not have made it worse than it has 
been—more unholy, more distracted, more smitten by Provi- 
dence. Take as my voucher a recently published History, the 
last pages of which give this 

Summary of the Papacy. 

"The papacy from Simon bar Jonas, called Saint Peter, 
down to Pio Nono, the present Pope, has had 293 heads 
called popes. Thirty-one of these were anti-popes or usurpers. 
Of the remaining 262 legitimate popes, 25 came to a violent- 
death, as follows : 18 were poisoned, namely, Jean XL, Cle- 
ment II., Damasus II., Stephen IX., John XIII., Pascal II. 
— the same that disinterred and insulted the corpses of 
Henry IV. and Clement II. — Gelasius II., Benedict XL, Alex- 
ander V, Pius III., Alexander VI., Hadrian VI., Marcellus 
IL, Urban VII., Clement XIV. and Clement VIII., Leo XL 
and (perhaps) XII. ; finally, Leo X. died either of poison or 
the small-pox, or, it may be, of both. Pour popes were 
assassinated — John VIII., Leo VI., Leo VII. and John XII. 
Thirteen others died by various means. Stephen VI. was 
strangled ; Leo III. and John XVI. were mutilated and lamed ; 
John X. stifled ; Benedict VI. was killed by a cord round his 
neck ; John XIV. died of hunger ; Lucius II. by stoning ; 
Gregory XVIII. , being imprisoned, perished in an iron cage ; 
Celestine V. of a nail driven into his temples ; Boniface by 
his own hands from rage at having been whipped ; Clement 
V was burnt on his death-bed ; Urban VI. was thrown from 
his horse and died of the fall ; Paul II. died from apoplexy from 
over-eating ; Pius IV. died from excess in a woman's arms. 
Sixty-four popes, then, out of 262, perished in some extra- 
ordinary manner ; without counting 20 others who suddenly 
died from vexation in consequence of reverses they suffered, 
notably Gregory IX., Innocent IV, Paul III. and IV., Gre- 
gory XIIL 



WHAT WORK OF CIVILIZATION BELONGS TO THE POPES ] 309 



" Twenty-six popes were deposed, or expelled, or exiled, 
without counting the popes of Avignon. These are Sergius 
III, Benedict V., Leo VIII., John XIII., Benedict VIII., 
Sylvester III., Gregory V., VIL, IX., XII., Alexander III., 
Urban V. and YL, Pascal II., Gelasius II., Innocent II. and 
IY., Eugenius III. and IV., Hadrian III. and IV, Lucius 
III., Martin IV, Pius YL, VII. and IX. (the present pope), 
John XXIII., who was hunted "by his brother pope, Martin 
V., as if he had been a wild beast. 

"Moreover, besides the first 14 popes, who did not believe 
in the Deity of Christ, first proclaimed by Zephyrinus in the. 
year 202, 21 were clearly heretics \ viz., Marcellinus, Zephy- 
rinus, Cornelius, Marcellus, Sylvester I., Liberius, Damasus, 
Eleutherius, Innocent I., Vigilius, Pelagius I., Zozimus, Felix 
III., Honorius I., Horroisdas, John II., John VIII., Leo III., 
Sixtus V., and Anastasius and Gregory the Great, who were 
iconoclasts. 

" Several popes were accused of murder. Twenty-eight 
popes invited foreigners into Italy for the sake of being sup- 
ported in - the chair of Saint Peter/ Nicholas III. opens the 
series of nepotist popes. 

" In brief, 90 popes suffered violent deaths, and were ex- 
pelled, deposed, banished ; 35 underwent the same fate from 
being unfaithful to their office ; 28 would have been subject 
to the same lot but for the intervention of foreigners : in all, 
153 unworthy popes put of 262." 

"What dynasty, what institution in the world, ever had a 
darker history ? 

" Civilization asks what share the Papacy has taken in its 
work. Is it the press ? Is it electricity \ Is it steam 1 Is it 
chemical analysis I Is it free trade ? Is it self-government 1 
Is it the principle of nationality ] Is it the proclamation of 
the rights of man 1 Of the liberty of conscience 1 Of all 
this the Papacy is the negation. Its culminating points are 
Gregory I., who, like Omar, burnt libraries ; Gregory VII. , 



310 



THE PAPACY HAS SMITTEN ALL EUROPE. 



who destroyed a moiety of Eome and created the temporal 
sovereignty; Innocent III.., who founded the Inquisition; 
Boniface IX., who destroyed the last remains of municipal 
liberty in Eome ; Pius VII., who committed the same wrong 
in Bologna ; Alexander VL, who established the censorship 
of books ; Paul III., who published the bull for the esta- 
blishment of the Jesuits ; Pius V., who covered Europe with 
burning funeral piles ; Urban VIII., who tortured Galileo ; 
and Pius IX., who has given us the modern Syllabus. 

" Has not the Papacy stamped its brand on all the nations 
of Europe 1 In England, that brand is Mary Tudor ; in Spain, 
Philip IE ; in the Low Countries, the Duke of Alva ; in 
Bohemia, the war against the Hussites ; in France, Simon de 
Montfort, Saint Bartholomew, and the revocation of the Edict 
of Nantes ; in Germany, the Thirty Years' War ; in South 
America, destruction ; in Italy, division and foreign despotism. 

" What ground of existence, then, has the Papacy ? In 
Italy it impedes the settlement of nationality ; in Mexico, the 
formation of the State ; in France, the progress of freedom ; 
in England, the pacification of Ireland. In virtue of what 
merit, then, does it claim its right to live ? To travel through 
its past history of fifteen centuries is hideous and distressing, 
yet it is replete with instruction. It proclaims, beyond all 
contradiction, that the Eoman world must be depapalized 
before it can be really free."* 

Yet the specific title of each of this long line of popes is 
" His Holiness." Holy 1 What then is unholy ? And how 
could several of these feeble mortals have been more wicked 
than they were, had they been under the temptation of a per, 
sonal devil as wicked as the devil is described to be by the papal 
system ? If men who are armed cap-a-pie against my influ- 
ence, men who were the temple and the channel of the Holy 
Spirit, could be so base and so unfortunate, humanity contains 

* Histoire Diplomatique des Conclaves, par F. P. Delia Gattina, M.D. , 
et Membre du Parlement Italien. 4 vols. 8vo. 1866. 



SACERDOTALISM IS NECESSARILY BANEFUL. 311 

vice enough in its own self to account for all the crimes of 
history and social life.* 

I have spoken of priests and popes in general, without in- 
tending to deny that many of them were and are (in a sense) 
Christian men. 

On that very account are they more formidable. Sacer- 
dotalism is not the less to be denounced and undermined 
because it proves in some natures to be compatible with a 
certain moral excellence. Whatever the man, the priest is, 
as a priest, that is as one devoted to the interests of a so-called 
sacred caste — the priest is to be feared, shunned, disallowed 
and superseded. In the kingdom of the Son of Man — that 
is, wherever true religion prevails, the religion which Jesus 
taught and lived — priests will be impossible. The Father of 
the universe admits no dark shadow between Himself and his 
children of the human race. 



CHAPTER IV. 
ecclesiastical tradition concerning me halts in its 

COURSE. 

9 

The whole history of Church doctrines concurs to shew 
that when once a dogma has been planted, it continues to 
grow and expand until it has reached the summit of its logical 
development. Interruptions and even momentary recessions 
may arise in its course from incidental causes, but it can no 
more stop finally than the acorn can cease growing before it 
has become an oak. It was so with the dogma of the Trinity. 
Given the human and the divine life of Jesus, and given the 
social conditions into which the seed was cast, and in due 
time the Trinity of the creeds was inevitable. So too with 

* Compare Les Crimes des Papes jusqu'a Pie VI., par L. Lavicomterie. 
Paris, 1792. 



312 THE LINE OF DEMONIACAL TRADITION BROKEN, 

the doctrine that makes me the absolute antagonist of God 
and the prince of the powers of hell. Yet here a halt must 
be noticed, as there were several interruptions of the line of 
the triune development of the idea of God. 

Abundant, doubtless, at the end of the second century were 
the elements out of which a full-grown Satan might have 
come forth. Nevertheless, the process of the unfolding of 
such conceptions, if sure in its final issue, varies in time 
and place, with culture, individuals and opportunities, so that 
a long series of years, or even centuries, is required to nil up 
gaps, to supplement deficiencies, to correct error, and so to 
bring forth in completion the full logical result. I propose 
to exemplify these statements in speaking of the fabled descent 
of Christ into hell, having it for my purpose to educe from 
what is said an argument m favour of my impersonality and 
my final disappearance. 

A scriptural passage of doubtful authenticity, and a univer- 
sally admitted spurious Gospel, are the solitary sources which 
added to what is termed " The Apostles' Creed,'' the clause, 
" He (Christ) descended into hell." The Scripture runs thus : 
" He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which 
were aforetime disobedient when the long-suffering of God was 
waiting in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, 
wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water" (1 Pet. 
iii. 18 — 20). The passage wears an apocryphal air. However 
here too the logical law of development to which I have re- 
ferred is exemplified. 

The general notion w r as, that Christ by his death had re- 
versed the loss occasioned by the fall. But during many 
centuries men of God had died without having had an oppor- 
tunity even of seeing and hearing Christ. They, with all the 
other dead, were in Hades. Being there, they suffered priva- 
tion ; some suffered punishment greater or less. The grand 
idea of the universality of the effect of Christ's death came in 
at this point to lend aid in solving the question, "Are the 
worthies of the Old Covenant shut out from the greatest of 



THE FABLE OF CHRIST'S DESCENT INTO HELL. 313 



all blessings, the blessing of a share in the benefits accruing 
from the Xew f " He died for all," was the reply. Thence 
the inevitable conclusion, "Then he went and preached to 
the spirits in prison/' "But they," says theory, "are in 
Hades." Consequently "he must have descended into hell." 
The logic of the process was soon forgotten, and argument 
became history in this, as in so many other ecclesiastical 
dogmas and practices. From some date in the second century 
down into the last third of the nineteeth, the fact of Christ's 
descent into hell, guaranteed by the highest ecclesiastical 
authority, and taught to Englishmen in " The Book of Com- 
mon Prayer," has been held, equally with the contradictions 
of the pseudo-Athanasian Creed, by all faithful Churchmen 
and sound believers. 

Thus fancies become facts, and false deductions truths 
essential to salvation. 

If I am guilty of misleading men, I might plead in excuse 
that I follow my ecclesiastical superiors. I now invite your 
attention to the spurious Gospel to which I referred. This 
is not the place to speak of its origin or literary character. 
As to its date, Tischendorf* places it in the second century ; 
Maury t in the beginning of the fifth. It is scarcely so early 
as the former, nor so late as the latter. As shewing a growth 
of the tradition in the Epistle, it may be safely attributed to 
the fourth century. This is an approximation near enough 
for my purpose. It is certain that Cyril of Jerusalem, in the 
catechetical instructions he gave from the year 315 to the 
year 351 in that city, used the following words: "Christ 
descended into the bosom of death, and aroused the bodies of 
several saints who slept the sleep of the tomb. Death, at the 
sight of that stranger who descended into Hades (< Hell"), was 
smitten with fear." The Latin Version is more particular and 
emphatic : "Death and the Infernal One, contemplating their 
impious duties together with their cruel subordinates, were 
* Evangelia Apocrypha. 

f Croyances et Legendes de FAntiquite. 2nd edition, Paris, 



314 



SATAN, HADES, AND DEATH. 



taken with fear in their own kingdom, and exclaimed, saying, 
' We are conquered by thee. Who art thou who, suffering 
corruption, by the incorrupt argument of thy majesty, furiously 
condemnest our power T" The Greek of Cyril has it: " On 
what account, 0 door-keepers of Hades, are you terrified at 
the sight of this one ? What unusual fear has seized you V 
The patriarch adds: " Death fled, and that flight convicts 
him of cowardice." Then he represents the holy prophets, 
Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, John the 
Baptist, as hastening to the scene. The last asks, " Art thou 
he that wast to come, or do we expect another T David 
interposes, and says to Hades, that he recognizes the voice of 
the Saviour who commands the devils to open their gates. 
Isaiah also is struck with the truth of his prediction (xxv. 8 ; 
comp. 1 Cor. xv. 55) : " 0 Death, where is thy victory ; where 
is thy sting ?" Saint Cyril puts these words also into the 
mouths of the holy prophets at the moment of the Saviour's 
arrival : " Each of the righteous ones says, 4 Where, Death, is 
thy victory ; where, Hades, thy sting ?" 

The appearance of John the Baptist here is accounted for 
by the belief then current, that, as the forerunner of Jesus, he 
had gone down into Hades to prepare the way before him 
there. 

Cyril finishes with the words : " Thus were all the righ- 
teous men delivered whom death had devoured." The general 
thought of the early Fathers is expressed by Epiphanius of 
Cyprus (368—402) : " Thus were fulfilled the things foretold 
against the rulers Hades and Death, who, ignorant of the 
divine might of the man Jesus, thought to overpower him, 
but were themselves overpowered by him." Accordingly the 
Christian orators are wont to employ this formula : " God has 
by Christ delivered us from the power of Satan and of Death, 
or of Hades and of Death." 

Now, these Satan, Hades and Death, are in the early autho- 
rities to which I have referred, not mere personifications (they 
have passed out of that stage), but actual persons. Other 



-SATAN AND HADES DISPUTE ABOUT JESUS. 



315 



instances might be adduced to the same effect. Here, then, 
are three infernal potentates, a trinity of demoniacal powers. 
Of that group I am inferior to Hades, who is the prince, the 
king of darkness, and I only his prime minister, and as such 
liable to the severity of his rebuke. My subordinate station 
appears fully in these citations from the Gospel of Nicode- 
mus: 

" And when all were in such joy (at the prospect given by 
John the Baptist of the advent of Jesus) came Satan, the 
heir of darkness, and said to Hades, 6 0 ail-devouring and 
insatiable ! hear my words. There is of the race of the Jews 
one named Jesus, calling himself the Son of God \ and being 
a man, by our working with them the Jews have crucified 
him ; and now when he is dead, be ready that we may secure 
him here. For I know that he is a man, for I heard him 
say, 6 My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ? (Mark 
xv. 34). He also has done me many evils in the upper 
world. For wherever he found my servants, he persecuted 
them \ and whatever men I made crooked, blind, lame, lepers, 
or any such thing, by a single word he healed them ; and 
many whom I had got ready to be buried, even these through 
a single word he brought to life again.' Hades answers : 
£ And is this man so powerful as to do such things by a single 
word % or if he be so, canst thou withstand him ? It seems 
to me that, if he be so, no one will be able to withstand him. 
And if thou sayest that thou didst hear him dreading death, 
he said this mocking thee and laughing, wishing to seize 
thee with his strong hand ; and woe, woe to thee to all 
eternity !' 

" Satan replies : * 0 thou all-devouring and insatiable Hades, 
art thou so afraid of hearing of our common enemy % I was 
not afraid of him, but w r orked in the Jews, and they crucified 
him, and also gave him gall and vinegar to drink (Matt, 
xxvii. 34). Make ready then, in order that you may lay fast 
hold of him wdien he comes/' 

" Hades answers : 6 Heir of darkness, son of destruction. 



3i6 CHRIST DEMANDS THE SURRENDER OF HELL. 

devil, thou hast just now told me that many whom thou 
hadst made ready to be buried he brought to life again by a 
single word. And if he has delivered others from the tomb, 
how and with what power shall he be laid hold of by us 1 
For I not long ago swallowed down one dead man, by name 
Lazarus, and shortly after, one of the living dragged him up 
by force out of my bowels ; and I think that it was he of 
whom thou speakest. If, therefore, we receive him here, I 
am afraid lest perchance we be in danger about the rest. For 
lo ! all those that I have swallowed from eternity are, I feel, 
in commotion ; and I am pained in my bowels. And the 
snatching away of Lazarus beforehand seems to me no good 
sign ; for not like a dead body, but like an eagle, he flew out 
of me. Wherefore I adjure thee, for thy benefit and mine, 
not to bring him here ; for I think he is coming here to raise 
all the dead. And this I tell thee ; by the darkness in which 
we live, if thou bring him here, not one of the dead will be 
left behind in it to me.' 

" While Satan and Hades were thus speaking to each other, 
there was a great voice like thunder, saying : i Lift up your 
gates, 0 ye rulers ; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates, 
and the king of glory shall come in' (Psalm xxiv. 7). When 
Hades heard that, he said to Satan : 6 Go forth, if thou art 
able, and withstand him.' Satan therefore went forth to the 
outside. Then Hades says to his demons: 'Secure well and 
strongly the gates of brass and the bars of iron, and attend 
to my bolts, and stand in order and see to everything ; for if 
he comes in here, woe will seize us.' The forefathers having 
heard this, began all to revile him : 4 0 all-devouring and 
insatiable ! open, that the king of glory may come in. ' Then 
came there again a voice, saying : ' Lift up the gates, Hades !' 
Hades, as if forsooth he knew not who was there, asked : 
'Who is this king of glory V 

" Then the angels of the Lord say : 6 The Lord strong and 
mighty, the Lord mighty in battle' (Psalm xxiv. 8). 

"And immediately with these words the brazen gates were 



HADES OVERCOME. 



317 



shattered and tlie iron bars broken, and all the dead who had 
been bound came out of prison. 

" And the king of glory entered in the form of a man, and 
all the dark places of Hades were lighted up. 

" Immediately Hades cried out : ' We have been conquered ! 
Woe to us !' 

" Then the king of glory seized his chief satrap Satan by the 
head, and delivered him to his angels and said : ' With iron 
chains bind his hands, and his feet, and his neck, and his 
mouth." Then he delivered him to Hades, and said: ' Take 
him, and keep him secure till my second appearing.' n * 

Another passage of the same writing declares, " And Death 
and Hell were cast into the lake of fire" (Apoc. xx. 14:). 

Vivid representations like these would do more for deve- 
loping devilry than learned arguments and sober discourses. 
Doubtless, too, they represent the popular state of thinking 
and feeling at the time. Here, then, in my humiliation, you 
see that break in the line of demon ological development to 
which I have referred. 

My object, however, is not so much to shew you the pro- 
gress and condition of devildom at this precise time, as to 
ask you to look calmly and earnestly on the well-defined and 
prominent personalities that stand before you in at least 
Hades and Satan. This is a simple creation of the human 
mind. Scriptural inspiration is here out of the question. 
The whole, from first to last, is a result of man's power to 
transmute his conceptions into personal beings, and to endow 
those personal beings with kindling life and individual attri- 
butes. If one age could effect so much toward creating a 
personal devil, how easy to believe that the result would not 
fail to ensue from a long series of ages, working in the same 
direction and under conditions the most auspicious ! 

However, with facts like this before me, what am I to 
think of the stability of my foundation 1 A personification 

* "The G-ospel of Nicodemus," in Vol. XVI. of Clark's " Ante-Nicene 
Christian Library." 1870. 



318 PERSONIFICATIONS VANISH AS WELL AS ARISE. 

is but a breath. If one personification brings me into exist- 
ence, another may take me out of it. What, indeed, does the 
figure Death denote but decay and extinction? And what 
are all my names but figures of speech 1 As Satan, I am 
man's adversary personified. As devil, I am either the old 
Parsic dew, a fallen divinity, or the universal accnser diabolus. 
As for "serpent," "roaring lion," "Apollyon" (the destroyer), 
clearly these are simple attempts to give a concrete form to 
the evil of the world. Language is a changeful thing; and 
as the old forms pass away or lose their import, they w T ill 
take me with them. Having been thus sunk from "the prince 
of darkness" into one of his officers by man's imagination, 
by the same power I must have been made, and at the will 
of the same power I manifestly hold my present position. 



CHAPTEE Y. 

LUTHER SUSTAINS MY TOTTERING THRONE. 

A power such as mine was not easily undermined. The 
old Saxon reformer, Luther, to whom the world owes so much 
of its highest good, was not free from the superstitions of his 
age; that is, the accumulated superstitions of centuries. Ac- 
cordingly, I was to him a personal reality. Eeal, too, was 
my kingdom ; as real as that of God and Christ. Owning 
my kingdom, he of course owned my subalterns and my 
subjects. Indeed, the whole of devildom, as handed down 
from the past, came into and was retained by his hands. 
This may seem strange on the part of one who by his supe- 
rior intelligence liberated the human mind from so many 
falsities. But Luther was a rationalist only in part. He 
expressly disallowed all reasoning about what are called the 
mysteries of religion ; and made the Bible as the word of 



SUPERSTITION IN LUTHER FOSTERED SATAN. 



319 



God the test and measure of his "belief in an absolute man- 
ner, so that whatever the Bible said implicitly or explicitly, 
he accounted divine truth. And this he carried so far, that 
cabbalistic misinterpretations, and pagan additions to the 
teachings of the Bible, he held as firmly as its fundamental 
principles and clearest declarations. Yet, as his was a genial 
nature, demonism does not wear so dark a robe as in the 
writings of many others. He is playful, not to say jocose, 
occasionally ; nay, at times friendly and almost losing in the 
tone he takes toward devils. 

These statements will find exemplifications in the following 
series of translated extracts from his celebrated Tischreden, 
or Table Talk, nearly two hundred closely printed octavo 
pages of which are occupied with the subject.* 

Of Good and Bad Angels. 

The angels stand at our right hand to guard and protect us 
at the command of God, so that we may not be destroyed or 
injured by the devils. Consequently when the devil attempts 
to do us harm, our dear holy angel keeps him off and drives 
him away ; for God's messenger has long arms, and though 
he stands in the presence of God or in the sun, yet is he 
able to take part in our affairs and be our protector. 

The devils also are near us, and every moment and cease- 
lessly plot against our life, health and salvation • but the dear 
guardian defends us against them, so that they cannot do 
what they would fain do. There are numerous devils in the 
woods, the waters, the deserts, in marshes and pools, lying 
in wait to injure human beings. Some are there in black 
and thick clouds, occasioning thunder, lightning, hail and 
storms j they blight meadows and poison the air. When 
such happens, the philosophers and physicists say that it is 
natural, ascribing it to the stars, and assigning I know not 
what causes of the evils and plagues. 

* D. Martin Luther's Tischreden oder Colloquia, von Dr. K. E. Forste- 
mann. Leipzig, 1844. 



320 LUTHER PROVES GUARDIAN AXGELS FROM SCRIPTURE. 

A Guardian Angel. 

Not far from Zwickau, in Voigtland, a pair of peasants one 
day sent their son, a little boy, into the neighbouring forest 
to bring home the cows. As the lad was dilatory, he was 
overtaken by night. There came so heavy a fall of snow that 
the hills were covered to their summits. Consequently the 
hoy was unable to find his path. And as he returned not 
home the next day, his parents were greatly distressed, par- 
ticularly as they were prevented by the snow from making 
their way into the wood. On the third day, when the snow 
had been partly swept away by the wind, they went out to 
seek their child. After long and wearying searches, their 
glad eyes fell upon him as he sat on a sunny knoll, on which 
lay no snow. The moment he saw his parents he jumped 
up, ran toward them, and laughingly asked them why they 
had come. In reply, they said, "What have you been about? 
Why did you not come home ?" " Have I been so long 
absent?" "Yes; why have you tarried here?" "The sun 
set, and I could not find my way." " Where did you sleep V* 
" Here, under this tree, on some dry straw." "How did you 
get it?" " A young man brought it to me — a very good young 
man." "What have you done for food'?" "He fed me." 
" Who feci you ?" " The good man." " Where is he ?" " I 
do not know ; he comes and goes, and will not stay, though 
he says man} r a kind word to me, and I am so glad of his 
company." " He will be here again this evening ?" " Yes ; 
but we must hasten home ; already the day is beginning to 
decline." " Will he follow ?" " 0 how I wish he would !" 

Martin Luther often told this story, and said, " Is it not 
written : 

' He will give his angels charge over thee, 
To keep thee in all thy ways ; 
They will bear thee up in their hands, 
Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone/ " (Ps. xci. II.) 

While in general describing me in all the worst features 
of commonplace theologians, Luther now and then has pas- 



THE ONLY EFFECTUAL EXORCISM. 



321 



sages which, not differing greatly from the views I have set 
before you, speak of rue as an impersonation of human wicked- 
ness, rather than as an individual being, concentrating all 
evil in himself. For instance : 

A godless man is a counterfeit or image of Satan. 

Do you wish to see the true form and likeness of the 
devil ? Go over the ten commandments, and suppose the 
opposite of each incarnated in a human being, and you will 
have Satan himself before you in ten different shapes. Some 
one said to Dr. Luther that he should like to see the devil. 
He answered and said : "As God is the thesis of the Deca- 
logue, so is Satan the antithesis" If you would really know 
the devil, place before your eyes a godless, hopeless, wicked 
man, who has no conscience and leads a vicious life, and you 
see the devil in a bodily form, the devil himself. 

Spiritual, not Papal, exorcisms expel Satan. 
The poor creatures possessed of the devil are not set free 
by the words or the arts of the papal conjurors. It can be done 
only by the power of God in union with each one's endeavour 
to give the devil a bad time of it so long as he remains. 

DonH ask the Devil to be your guest. 
One of the German nobles invited Dr. Martin Luther to 
his mansion, in company with some of the scholars of Witten- 
berg, and made for them a hunting party. They soon started 
a fine fox. Off went the host, seated on a dashing racer, after 
the fox. He was speedily followed by a second and a third. 
But the fourth huntsman was carried by Iris horse up into 
the air against Iris will. The horse fell to earth and died, and 
the fox was seen careering through the atmosphere. That 
fox, said the doctor, was Satan : adding, " Xever invite the 
devil to a feast : we have all devils enough around us, and 
find enough to do to keep their hands from our bodies and 
our souls." 

Y 



322 



NEGLECT AND CONTEMPT A GOOD EXORCISM. 



How an hobgoblin tormented a parson, and Luther's advice for 
his exjndsion. 

A country parson came to Luther from Siipz, hard byTorgau' 
who complained to the doctor that by night a hobgoblin was 
used to enter into his house, and with frightful noises set . 
everything into confusion, overturning the tables, setting the 
chairs one on another, breaking the pots and pans, so that 
he and his family had no peace ; for, said he, when he is at 
his devilish work I throw at his head whatever I can lay my 
hand on, and he does nothing but laugh and grin at me in 
the most annoying and insulting manner, until at last, when 
he sees me most vexed, he hurries away goggling and sniggling. 
This game Satan had carried on for a whole year, so that his 
wife and children could endure it no longer. 

Then spake Dr. Martin Luther and said : "Dear brother, 
be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might ; hold 
fast thy faith in Christ ; yield in no way to the devil. This 
kind of devils go out only by contempt and neglect. Let him 
play his game out ; disturb not yourself ; throw neither pot 
nor pan at his head, but keep quiet in bed by the side of your 
wife, and he will get tired of playing the fool. Try this 
exorcism for three months, and then come back and report 
the result." The good parson returned and said, with tears 
of gratitude in his eyes : " Dear Doctor Martin Luther, he is 
gone I" " Keep tranquil," was the answer, " and he will never 
trouble you again." 

Luther himself worried by a hobgoblin in his Patmos. 
In the year 1-546, when Luther was at Eisleben, he related 
the following history how the devil had worried him in the 
Wartburg, saying : When, in the year 1521, I was travelling 
from Worms and had come to Eisenach and sat in the castle 
of Wartburg in Patmos, I was then at a distance from other 
people in a study, and no one was to come to me except two 
noble boys who brought me meat and drink twice a day. 
Xow they bought me a sack of hazel-nuts, which I ate from 



MERRIMENT A NOT INEFFECTIVE EXORCISM. 



323 



time to time, keeping them shut up in a coffer. When I went 
to rest at night, I betook myself into the study, put the light 
out, and lay down in bed. Then my hazel-nuts came back, 
rising and cracking one after another right hard against the 
beams of the chamber, and rattling in the bed : but I made 
no inquiry into the cause. Then I fell asleep. After a short 
time, however, I was aroused by a sudden rattle and crash, as 
if of all the plates, dishes, mugs and jugs in the house falling 
down the stairs. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the top 
of the stairs to see who or what had caused the clash. I 
looked and looked again, and saw — the stairs ; nothing more. 
Then I spake, saying, What is it 2 what art thou ? Eeceiving 
no answer, I quoted the Scripture which is spoken of Christ 
in Psalm vii. 8, " Thou hast put all things under his feet." 
Calm ensued, and all things being quiet now, I lay down on 
my bed and slept till late in the morning. The goblin was 
laid by the power of the word of God. 

Contempt and merriment are a powerful exorcism. 

Doctor Luther said : When he could not get rid of Satan 
by means of the sacred Scripture and earnest words of rebuke, 
he had often driven him off by a good joke, or a hearty laugh, 
or a biting sarcasm. As for instance, he said to him : " Dear 
devil, if the blood of Christ is not enough to cover my sins, 
be kind enough to offer for me a word or two of prayer thyself." 
When I am idle and have nothing to do, the devil creeps into 
my soul, and before I am aware of it he fills me with fear, so 
that I break out into a profuse perspiration. What then is my 
resource % I fire at him a word of Scripture, and off he runs. 
You cannot drive him away by anything more readily than 
by contempt. On this point Dr. Luther used to tell of what 
happened to him at Magdeburg : In the beginning of my 
preaching, the devil did his utmost to suppress it. There was 
then a citizen whose child died, and who would not pay for 
vigils or masses for the dead. This irritated the devil, and 
he began to come every night into the good man's chamber 



324 TO DESPISE PRIESTS AND SATAN HAS ITS EFFECT. 



and whimpered like a child. The trick worked on the bereaved 
father, and he knew not what to do. Thereon the priests 
cried out : "Yes, yes; you see how it is when people won't 
pay for vigils and masses. Poor soul ! who pities thee V ' In 
his sore trouble, the worthy man sent for me, and entreated 
my advice, stating that he had read my sermon on the words, 
"They have Moses and the Prophets" (Luke xvi. 29). On 
this I wrote to him not to be troubled at the matter, for it 
was simply an ill turn done him by the devil, adding that he 
was to despise both priests and Satan, and all would go well. 
He followed my counsel, bidding the priests to seek custom 
somewhere else, and saying to the devil, " What ! is this the 
best you can do — to whimper like a child I Off with you, 
cursed spirit ! off with you to your own place — the deepest 
spot in hell !" Thereon the devil began to storm and beat 
about ; he howled like a wolf : he bellowed like a bull ; but 
no one cared for what he did, not even the children ; and so 
he was driven away by contempt. The contempt filled the 
house to such a degree, that when he laid hold of the skirt of 
a maid-servant who was carrying a child up the stairs, she 
beat him off by the simple phrase, "Bah ! bah ! silly thing !" 

After some time, Mr. Jacob, the mayor of Bremen, came to 
Magdeburg and took up his abode at the head hotel. " I 
want," said he to his host, " to hear this devil which is so 
much talked of here." "You shall, honoured sir, hear him 
this evening at eight o'clock." Sure enough, the devil came 
down the chimney, breaking and overthrowing everything in 
his passage. "Well, well," said A Ir. Jacob, "I have had 
enough of him. Let's to bed." There were two chambers 
near each other. In one lay the landlady, her children and 
her maid-servants ; the other was occupied by Mr. Jacob and 
mine host. When now Mr. Jacob had gone to bed, the devil 
came and began to sport with him, taking away his coverlet. 
Mr. Jacob was horrified, and fell to pray with all his might. 
Then the devil went into the next chamber and began to 
play his tricks on the women, charring them and running over 



ADVICE FOR GROWN-UP CHILDREN. 



325 



the bedclothes, now as a troop of mice and now as a troop of 
rats. And as he would not cease, the hostess threw at him a 
certain chamber convenience, saying, " Take that, vile wretch ! 
and go on a pilgrimage to Borne, to worship thine idol the 
pope, and buy a score of indulgences at his shop ! You need 
them all : and when you have got them, what good will they 
do you ?" That moment the devil and his imps tied away ; quia 
est superbus spiritus et non potest ferre contemptum sui ; for 
he is a haughty scoundrel, and cannot endure contempt. 

The advice is excellent. If all the grown-up children in 
the world, and all the old women in male attire, would only 
despise me, I should soon be driven out of existence : and 
with me there would depart a host of phantoms, such as 
superstitions, fear of ghosts, fear of man, fear of self, and I 
know not how many more fears by which weak mortals now 
whip themselves with rods of iron and spikes of brass made 
by their own hands. Xo ! the devil cannot stand against the 
dissolving force of persistent neglect ! 

The fact is owned by Eichard Baxter, who has recorded a 
case relative to one Mr. White, of Dorchester, assessor to the 
Westminster Assembly at Lambeth, who being (as the account 
puts it) honoured with a visit one night from the arch-fiend, 
treated him with cool contempt. The devil in a light night 
stood by his bed-side. The assessor looked awhile whether 
he would say or do anything. Finding that nothing ensued, 
and annoyed at being thus trifled with, he said, " If thou hast 
nothing to do, I have and so turned and composed himself 
to sleep.* 

Without consulting the ecclesiastical casuists, I could not 
quite take on myself to declare contempt a Christian virtue ; 
but certainly it is a less offensive method of exorcism than 
some others which fable has recorded. Beaumont says of the 
spirits which he saw : " I have seen several spirits, and pointed 
to the place where they were," telling the company they were 



* Hibbert's " Philosophy of Apparitions." p. 131. 



326* COLERIDGE ON THE CAUSE OF LUTHER'S HALLUCINATIONS. 

there. And one spirit whom I heard calling to me, as he 
stood behind me, on a sudden clapped his finger to my side, 
which I sensibly perceived and startled at; and as I saw one 
spirit come in at the door, which I did not like, I suddenly 
laid hold of a pair of tongs, and struck at him with all my 
force, whereupon he vanished." 

And yet, as he w T as a spirit, a blow could do him no harm. 
It would, however, be easy to multiply narratives, how the 
famulus of one man struck him on the right or left ear, as he 
did well or ill • how to another person an angel came with a 
similar design, and "whipped the offending Adam out of him;" 
how a third visionary fancied he was scourged on a bed of 
steel by devils ; how a lad was killed by a spirit from a box 
on the ear ; and, in short, how a cloud of other phantasms 
have not been content with a bodiless form, but have assumed 
a pugilistic character, and boxed, not (like honest Jack Tar) 
the compass, but their unhappy victims and indocile scholars ; 
thus, by the incongruity of the functions ascribed to my agents, 
supplying a sufficient proof that the whole subject is clutched 
out of the air. 

The passages which I have adduced from the great Saxon 
Eeformer, while testifying the universality and depth of my 
influence in his days, bear witness also to the approach of 
my declining years. Already I feel the fresh breeze of the 
dawning day, which I am reputed to be unable to endure. 
"When a witticism, a vulgarity or disrespect, has power to put 
me to flight, I already foresee my grey hair and my tottering 
limbs. 

If the following extract from Coleridge's "Friend" (11.236) 
is somewhat plainly spoken, it nevertheless contains much 
good sense in regard to Luther's familiarity with me : 

u Had Luther been himself a prince, he could not have 
desired better treatment than he received during his eight 
months' stay in the Wartburg ; and in consequence of a more 
luxurious diet than he had been accustomed to, he was plagued 
with temptations both from the flesh and the devil. It is 



JOHN SELDEN S EXORCISM 



327 



evident from his letters that he suffered under great irritability 
of his nervous system, the common effect of deranged diges- 
tion in men of sedentary habits, who are at the same time 
intense thinkers ; and this irritability adding to and vivify- 
ing impressions made upon him in early life, and fostered by 
the theological systems of his manhood, is abundantly suffi- 
cient to explain all his apparitions, and all his mighty com- 
bats with evil spirits." 

The sort of half-reverence with which my name is men- 
tioned by ignorant persons, as if I were in some way a god 
myself, and a god to be conciliated at least by civil behaviour, 
not seldom extorts a smile from my lips, which may be taken 
in repayment of the smiles with which I am wont to be 
treated by the philosophers. It is said of Southey, that he 
could never think of me without laughing. This ludicrous 
vein has been ascribed to " the genuine humour of our Teu- 
tonic ancestors." ^Nevertheless, I am, alas ! something more 
than a joke. Kidiculous, if you will, as the cause of all the 
evil ecclesiastically referred back to me, I am a very serious 
reality in the Papal confessional and in Protestant churches 
and chapels all over the world. And though I would gladly 
consent to be laughed out of existence, if laughing would do 
it, I fear that I can never be driven away except by processes 
of a sterner kind. This consideration has had great weight 
in inducing me to write my own Autobiography. 

The good sense which Luther shewed in regard to exorcism 
has led me to chat on in connection with a subject more 
profitable to others than myself. I must draw in the rein ; 
yet I cannot withhold John Seidell's (1584 — 1651) method of 
treatment, since it presents a striking exception to the cre- 
dulity of the sixteenth century : 

" A person of quality came to my chamber in the Temple, 
and told me he had two devils in his head (I wondered what 
he meant), and just at that time one of them bid him kill 
me. With that I began to be afraid, and thought he was 
mad. He said he knew I could cure him, and therefore 



328 EXPELS FOUR DEVILS. 

entreated me to give him something, for he was resolved he 
would go to nobody else. I, perceiving what an opinion he 
had of me, and that it was only melancholy that troubled 
him, took him in hand, and warranted him, if he would fol- 
low my directions, to cure him in a short time. I desired 
him to let me be alone about an hour, and then to come 
again \ which he was very willing to. In the meantime I 
got a card, and wrapped it up handsomely in a piece of taffeta, 
and put strings to the taffeta ■ and when he came, gave it 
him to hang about his neck ; withal charging him that he 
should not disorder himself either with eating or drinking, 
but eat very little of supper, and say his prayers duly when 
he went to bed ; and I made no question that he would be 
well in three or four days. Within that time I went to 
dinner to his house, and asked hiin how he did. He said he 
was much better, but not perfectly well ; for in truth he had 
not dealt clearly with me ; he had four devils in his head, 
and he perceived two of them were gone with that which I 
had given him, but the other two troubled him still. 'Well,' 
said I, c I am glad two of them are gone ; I make no doubt 
to get rid of the other two likewise.' So I gave him another 
thing to hang about his neck. Three days after he came to 
me to my chamber, and professed he was now as well as he 
ever was in his life, and did extremely thank me for the great 
care I had taken of him. I, fearing lest he might relapse into 
the like distemper, told him that there was none but myself 
and one physician more in the whole town that could cure 
the devils in the head, and that was Dr. Harvey (whom I 
had prepared) ; and wished him, if ever he found himself ill 
in my absence, to go to him, for he could cure him as well 
as myself. The gentleman lived many years, and was never 
troubled after." 



BEKKER, SATAN S GREAT ASSAILANT. 



320 



CHAPTEE VI. 

ATTACK AND DEFENCE; BEKKER, HENRY MORE, AND GOADBY. 

The sands of my existence are running clown. "What was 
once solid ground begins to tremble under my feet; and yet 
no' pitched battle lias been fought. To all outward appear- 
ance, my empire is as wide and my throne as firmly set as 
ever. If any disposition to yield on the part of my sacerdotal 
supporters has become manifest, it is only in consequence of 
the piercingness of my own eye, from which, as you may 
judge, my loving friend, few things are wholly hidden. In 
reality, however, I feel that the joints and bands of my exist- 
ence are undergoing dissolution. And as I wish to commu- 
nicate my own knowledge to you, I proceed to put before you 
two antagonists and one advocate of no ordinary mettle, who 
have their proper logical place at the point to which we have 
now arrived. 

Balthassar Bekker, a Dutch Protestant clergyman, was the 
first to strike a heavy blow at the pestiferous superstitions 
connected with witchcraft, belief in apparitions and other 
supposed operations in human society of " the devil and his 
angels," which, alas ! still haunt and worry the less enlight- 
ened classes in both hemispheres. Dr. Bekker was born on 
the 20th of March, 1634, in a Prieslancl village, of which his 
father was the minister. Having been initiated into the 
elements of learning by that parent, he studied in the col- 
leges of Groningen and Franker, where he made such pro- 
gress in scholarship as to be thought at a later day not un- 
worthy to receive the honourable title of Doctor of Divinity. 
As a country parson at Oosterlittens, in Priesland, he devoted 
himself earnestly to his sacred duties, and manifested special 
interest in the instruction of children, which was neglected 
throughout the province. For this important purpose he 
established a species of Sunday-school. As an aid to his 



330 



beeker's "the world bewitched." 



instructional efforts, lie published a short Catechism for chil- 
dren, and another for persons of more advanced age. These 
praiseworthy labours excited envy in some of his clerical 
brethren, whose indifference to the wants of the people 
seemed to be reproved by Bekker's intelligent zeal. A cry 
was raised against him. Being a student of th§ philosophy 
of Descartes, then feared by traditionalists, he was described 
as an enemy to religion. The charge was sustained out of 
his second Catechism, which fell under the clerical ban as 
containing " strange expressions, unscriptural positions and 
dangerous opinions." His assailants went so far as to charge 
him with Socinianism, which at that time was a serious crime 
in Holland, now among the freest lands of Europe and Ame- 
rica, whether for religious or social liberality. The annoy- 
ances he underwent in consequence of his righteous endea- 
vours, induced him to leave Friesland, and, after a change of 
place or two, he settled in Amsterdam (1679). The comet 
which appeared in 1680 and 1681, and which terrified the 
world, called forth from him another manly utterance in his 
Ondersoch over de Komet'ei, or Inquiry concerning Cornets, 
wherein he attempted to calm men's minds by shewing that 
comets are not the presages or forerunners of calamity. This 
piece gained him great reputation, as did his Exposition on 
the Prophet Daniel, in which he gave abundant evidence of 
learning and sound judgment. But the work on which his 
fame is built is his Betooverde Wereld, The World Beicitched. 
What led him to write this important work was, as he declares 
in its Preface, his grief to see the great honours, powers and 
miracles which are ascribed to the devil. " It is come to 
pass," he says, " that men think it piety and godliness to 
ascribe a great many wonders to the devil, and impiety and 
heresy if a man will not believe that the devil can do what 
a thousand persons affirm he does. It is now reckoned reli- 
gious if a man who fears God fears the devil also. If he is 
not afraid of the devil, he passes for an atheist, because he 
cannot think that there are two gods, the one good, the other 



THE SCRIPTURE DOES NOT TEACH A PERSONAL SATAN. 331 

bad. But these, I think, with much more reason, may be 
called Ditheists (believers in two gods). For my part, if on 
account of my opinion they will give me a new name, let 
them call me a Monotheist, for I am a believer in but one 
God." The object of the work, according to its author, was 
" to strip the devil of his power, and to drive him back from 
earth to hell." Guided by the Cartesian doctrine, which 
places the essence of spirits in the faculty of thought, he 
expressly denied the operation of evil spirits on human beings, 
and described the references to good angels in the Scripture 
as figurative representations of the agency of God. In a 
scriptural confession of his belief, which he laid before the 
Upper Consistory of Amsterdam, he denies the existence of 
angels as well as that of devils, but without giving his reasons. 
More emphatic are his declarations against the popular fal- 
sities which tell of covenants with the devil, of magic, of 
witchcraft, of ghosts, of demoniacal possessions, &c; repudiat- 
ing altogether the kingdom of Satan, to which was attri- 
buted a power equal to, if not greater than, that of the 
Creator. 

He shews how that Scripture does not propound or set 
forth any doctrine or view of the devil as a matter of belief, 
but finding the notion already in existence, makes use of it 
for its own purposes. There are, he states, many things in 
Scripture on which no information is given and no acceptance 
demanded (e.g., the Urim and Thummim). The Bible is not 
given to teach us the nature of things or their real existence, 
but to shew us them in their relation to God and our own 
good ; in other words, its position is not a strictly scientific 
one, but a religious and practical one. Accordingly, much of 
what is said of the devil must be looked on as faded flowers ; 
and even the temptation of Christ, Bekker explains as an 
alternation of opposite thoughts which determine Jesus in 
favour of duty in its highest claims. The passage in 1 Peter 
v. 8, which describes the devil as a roaring lion which walketh 
about seeking whom he may devour, makes reference to the 



332 



BEKKER PERSECUTED BY THE PRIESTS. 



emperor Nero. Many other things which the Bible says of 
the devil, are to be understood of men. Instead of the fear 
of the devil, this wise man and true minister of Christ recom- 
mends the fear of God ; yea, " by banishing the fear of the 
devil from men's hearts, the wisdom and power of the Saviour 
will only become the more signal." The advanced position 
which he took up in theology is manifested in the fact, that 
he does not suppress reason by Scripture, nor Scripture by 
reason, but declares them two equally legitimate powers. 

His work speedily excited attention, and was soon put out 
in a translation in French. Forthwith arose a general cla- 
mour. Bitter tongues soon produced injurious deeds. The 
clerical authorities of Amsterdam proceeded against the daring 
heretic who did not even spare their falsities in his zeal to 
emancipate his fellow-men from imaginary terrors. Having 
first suspended him from the holy communion of the Supper, 
they, on finding him intractable, deposed him from the mi- 
nisterial office (1692). The magistrates of Amsterdam, how- 
ever, being more merciful than his ecclesiastical brethren, 
paid him his salary as long as he lived. His deposition did 
not satisfy his assailants. They excommunicated him. Driven 
from their Church, he sought shelter and sympathy among 
the French Protestant refugees settled in Holland. And so 
he remained faithful to his published convictions down to the 
day of his death, which took place June 11th, 1698. He 
passed onwards in the faith and hope of a simple-minded and 
earnest Christian. 

As an illustration of the extremes to which his persecutors 
went, reference may be made to a medal which they struck at 
the time of his deposition, and which represented the devil, 
clad like a clergyman, riding upon an ass, and holding in his 
hand a banner, in sarcastic reference to the victory he had 
gained in the ecclesiastical assemblies. With the medal was 
published a small piece in Dutch to explain its import, by 
stating what had been clone in the consistory classes and 
synods. While, however, the clergy cursed and sneered, im- 



SATAN BACKED UP BY MORE THE PLATONIST. 



333 



partial persons declared that " his morals were pure, and his 
soul firm and unyielding." The great philosopher Locke felt 
and expressed an interest in the unjust treatment Bekker 
underwent. And while Collins, in his Discourse on Free- 
thinking, attributed the prevalence of belief in diabolical 
agency to the influence of priests, and its decline to a free- 
dom of thinking encouraged at the Kevolution, Dr. Bentley, 
in his Remarks on that composition, observes : " "What has 
lessened in England your stories of sorceries ? Not c the 
growing sect' of atheists, but the growth of philosophy and 
medicine. Xo thanks to atheists, but to the Boyal Society 
and College of Physicians ■ to the Eagles and Newtons, the 
Sydem hams and Batch' fes. When the people saw the diseases 
they had imputed to witchcraft quite cured by a course of 
physic, they too were cured of their former error. They 
learned truth by the event, not by a false position a-priori 
that there was neither witch nor devil. And then as to the 
frauds and impostures in this way, they have most of them 
been detected by the clergy. The two strongest books I have 
read on this subject were both written by priests ; the one 
by Dr. Bekker in Holland, and the other by a doctor whose 
name I've forgot, that was afterwards Archbishop of York."* 
Five years before the death of Bekker, a man of high culture 
and of lasting fame, a clerk of the Church of England and a 
distinguished member of the University of Cambridge, the Pla- 
tonic spiritualist, Henry More, passed from what had been to 
him a world of reverie into the world of everlasting realities, on 
the 1st of September, 1687. If Bekker's words were the first 
breath of the new life that was then coming forth, More's 
words were the last thorough and unconscious wail over the 
then dying past. Xot that I was in those days gasping for 
breath ; but mine was already, except with the ignorant, 
a mutilated existence. Men believed and doubted, and so 

* Remarks, Sue., by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis, pp. 48, 49. 8th edition, 
1742. . 



334 



more's "antidote to athetsm." 



ceased to tremble. Of course the priests grew alarmed. If I 
were gone, what would become of them ? With them, to deny 
the devil was to deny God. The incoming deluge must be 
dammed out. Among those who put their hands to the task 
was the Eev. Henry More in his "Antidote to Atheism." 
If the extracts that I am about to lay before you create 
astonishment, as proceeding from so learned and cultivated 
a divine, you, my attentive and intelligent listener, may judge 
how thick and murky must have been the darkness of the 
popular mind under the oppressive incubus, especially when 
you know that the author was a member of that school of 
what is called " the Latitudinarian divines," whose legitimate 
successors are in the present day Arnold, Hare, Whately, 
Maurice, Kingsley, Alford, Conybeare and Howson — and last, 
but by no means least, Stanley, Dean of Westminster, the 
comparatively free and brave. 

In Book iii. of his "Antidote against Atheism," Henry 
More speaks (p. 170), as of a matter of truth, of a witch, who 
to satisfy the curiosity of them that could punish her, was set 
free, that she might give a proof of that power she professed 
she had to raise tempests. She therefore, being let go, be- 
takes herself to a place thick set with trees, scrapes a hole 
with her hand, fills it with urine, and stirs it about so long, 
that she caused at last a thick dark cloud charged with thunder 
and lightning, to the terror and distress of the beholders. 
However, she bids them to be of good courage, for she will 
command the cloud to discharge its contents upon what spot 
they should name ; which promise she made good in the 
sight of the spectators. 

In the same place he tells of a young girl, who to please 
her father, complaining of a drought, raised a cloud that 
watered his ground only, all around remaining as dry as 
before. 

He tells also of two persons who, having by the power of 
the devil coursed aloft in the air, were cast headlong out of a 
cloud upon a house. One of them being but a novice, and 



more's tales in defence of religion. 335 

inexperienced in those supernatural exploits, was astounded 
and afraid ; but the other, being used to such feats from his 
youth (his parents having devoted him from his childhood 
to the devil), did but make a sport of it, and, laughing at his 
friend, called him a fool for his fear, bidding him be of good 
courage, for their master, in whose power they were, would 
carry them safe through greater dangers than those. And no 
sooner had he said these words than a whirlwind seized them 
and set them both safe upon the ground j but the house they 
were carried from so shook as if it would have been overturned 
from the very foundations. 

He adds another relation of a witch, by name Constance, 
who being vexed that all her neighbours in the village where 
she lived were invited to a wedding, and so were drinking, 
dancing and making merry, while she was solitary and neg- 
lected, got the devil to transport her through the air, in the 
midst of day, to a hill hard by the village, where, digging a 
hole and putting urine into it, she raised a great tempest, and 
directed it so that it fell upon, and only upon, the village, and 
pelted them that were dancing with that violence that they 
were forced to discontinue their sport. 

Another instance is related of a man, who at the persua- 
sion of his wife anointing himself, as she had done before him, 
w T as carried away in the air to a great assembly of wizards and 
witches, where they were feasting under a nut-tree.. But this 
stranger, not relishing his cheer without salt, besought that 
condiment, and at last the salt came, when he blessed God for 
it. At that name the whole assembly disappeared ; and he, 
poor man, was left alone naked a hundred miles from home. 

The learned and refined clerk, after giving these and many 
other similar narratives, says : " I have produced such narra- 
tions that cannot but gain credit with such as are not per- 
versely and wilfully incredulous." 

In another chapter (p. 232) the Doctor speaks of men 
transformed into wolves by the devil, and argues for its being 
a real transformation, not a delusion of the fancy. " For I 



336 SATANISM DISTURBS, HARASSES AND TORTURES. 



conceive/' says lie, "that the devil gets into their body, and 
by his subtle substance, more operative and searching than 
-any fire or purifying liquor, melts the yielding rampages >f 
the body to such a consistency, and so much of it as is fit for 
his purpose, and makes it pliable to his imagination : and 
then it is as easy for him to work it into what shape he 
pleaseth, as it is to work the air into such forms and figures 
as he ordinarily doth. Xor is it any more difficulty for him 
to modify what is hard, than it is to harden what is soft and 
fluid as the air. And he that hath this power, we can never 
stick to give him what is lesser, viz., to instruct men how they 
shall for a time forsake their bodies and come in again. For 
can it be a hard thing for him that can thus melt and take in 
pieces the particles of the body, to have the skill and power 
to loosen the soul, a substance really distinct from the body, 
and separable from it : which is at last done by the easy 
course of nature, at that final dissolution of soul and body 
which we call death ? But no course of nature ever trans- 
forms the body of man into the shape of a wolf : so that this 
is more hard and exorbitant from the order of nature than 
the other/' 

Pause here, my beloved pupil — pause and reflect. These 
are the opinions of a scholar, a divine, a philosopher, and a 
good man. They are not to be slighted. Yet consider how 
such convictions cut into the very flesh, bone and marrow of 
ordinary life, and what torture, distress and confusion they 
must have inflicted on individuals, homes, society, the State, 
the Church. Still to this hour the kernel of all this mass of 
living corruption retains some life. Religion, the heart and 
the soul of man, is perplexed and horrified with these terrors. 
God's own universe is not in God's hands, nor does he fill 
infinite space and time with his presence. Everywhere he is 
beset with a competitor who throws his order into disorder, 
his law into suspension, his behests into contempt, his happi- 
ness into misery, his peace into confusion and warfare. S v. 
then, if it is not a sign of my taking a turn for the better, 



goadby's testimony against my personal existence. 337 

when I thus come forward and, through you, explode the 
whole as a pestiferous mass of human fully and fraud ! 

Had those who by profession are " sons of the light" not 
loved their own darkness rather than God's light, come for- 
ward and swept these Augean stables with their own hand, I 
should have been content to retire silently into well-merited 
oblivion. But no I the example of the Rev. Dr. More shews 
how little there is to be expected from the priests. I make 
this qualification in acknowledgment of the just reported ser- 
vices rendered by the Rev. Balthassar Bekker. And I have 
taken up this tone in order to introduce to you a name which, 
when the true lights of the world shall Unci recognition, will 
shine as a star in the firmament. 

Not long after the time when More was darkening counsel 
with words without knowledge in England, and Bekker was 
opening the eyes of thousands on the continent, there lived, 
worked and wrote at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, a humble 
printer, by name E. Goadby, who put forth and widely circu- 
lated what he called " An Illustration of the Holy Scriptures,"' 
in four large folio volumes, containing above 3000 pages of 
matter, partly collected, partly original, in which are found 
the seeds of many of the .most advanced ideas of the present 
day. Among other passages of similaT tendency, the following, 
which bears directly on our theme, deserves respectful atten- 
tion as the first free and emphatic utterance in England 
against this, the most prolific and baneful of superstitions : 

"Another" (I quote Mr. Goadby's words, Preface to his 
"Illustration of the Hew Testament,''" p. 4) — " Another little 
less important and little less certain truth" (than that "the 
Almighty Father of the universe made heaven, and earth and 
sea, and all that in them is, without any coadjutor") "upon 
which true religion must be founded is, that God only reigneth 
supreme ; that he hath prepared his throne in the heavens 
and his kingdom ruleth over all (Ps. ciii. 19) ■ that there is 
no evil beixg in the universe, who vies in power with him, 
* Fourth edition. Baldwin : London, 1770. 
z 



338 



goadby's argument. 



and is in declared opposition against him ; that there is no 
being of superior order that can injure or draw to evil and 
bring to eternal misery the human nature ; for this would 
degrade God from the character of a Father, a Master and a 
Sovereign ; for how can he be a Father if he suffers his 
children to be injured or drawn to evil by any being of far 
superior power, who attacks them in a manner they know not 
how ; who is about their paths and about their bed, and they 
know it not ; whom on the left hand, where he doth work, 
they cannot behold ; who hideth himself on the right hand 
that they cannot see him 1 And how is God a Master, if he 
suffers another, in declared opposition to him, to bring his 
servants into subjection, to turn them to his will, or to use 
them despitefully ? How is he the all-powerful Sovereign, if 
another, in declared opposition to him, can harass and ruin 
his subjects ; can frustrate his intentions for their good, and 
introduce disorder and misery into his kingdom 1 Or where 
is his power, if he is under a necessity of using the power and 
malevolence of an evil being, and even his declared enemy, 
to punish his subjects ] Does he who, as his prophet speaks 
of him, can 6 smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and 
slay the wicked with the breath of his lips,' stand in need of 
the assistance of his enemy to punish his rebellious subjects ? 
Or does he who knows all things from the beginning to the end, 
need his aid to try their fidelity by temptations? Will he 
who has declared by his prophets that he will not give his 
glory to another, enable a malevolent being to do as mighty 
acts as himself? for such and even mightier have men, and 
even the learned, attributed to the devil. How is it possible 
there should be concord between God and an evil being, be- 
tween the most perfect and adorable goodness and the extremest 
and most detestable malignity 1 If it be said that God does 
not assist or enable this evil being to do what he is supposed 
to do in the world, but only permits it, then it must follow that 
he has the power in himself ; and if so, then it may be asked, 
which is God ] since, as is supposed, they shew equal acts 



GOADBY S ARGUMENT. 



339 



of power. If it be said that all the good we experience comes 
from God, all the evil from the devil ; what is this but to set 
up two gods — a good one and an evil one ; and do we not by 
this contradict God himself, who has expressly declared by 
his prophets, 6 1 form the light and create darkness, I make 
peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things'? (Is. 
xlv. 7). 

" Let us not deem so unworthily of the Great Father of 
the universe, the infinite, pure and perfect Spirit, as that he 
associates with himself, or employs in any manner, a malignant 
being, exercising a power superior to nature, and doing as God 
does. Let us not have so low conceptions of his almighty 
power and all-perfect wisdom, as to imagine that there is 
always existing any being throughout the whole universe in 
an open, declared opposition against him, and always en- 
deavouring to injure and destroy his works. Let us have 
higher and more just thoughts of the Almighty's justice and 
goodness than to imagine he sets so vastly powerful and ma- 
lignant a being, as is supposed, in competition against weak 
man, the potsherd of the earth ; who is, as imagined, so 
greatly inferior to this evil being, that the famous Luther 
once said : ' Though I had with me a hundred thousand men 
such as myself, I could not resist one devil.' Let us ask our- 
selves how any such notions are consistent with the doxology 
Christ has taught us to address daily to the Father of the 
universe, 6 Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory.'" 

It is a fine illustration of the way in which a simple, ra- 
tional and devout piety may rise in purity of religious con- 
ception to the altitude of the highest art, that is offered in 
Goadby's view of the temptation of Christ ; which embodies 
in words the idea embodied by Schaeffer in one of the greatest 
of paintings (see the Cover). Denying a personal devil in what 
may be called an essay on the scriptural account of that most 
expressive and salutary mental process, this intelligent and 
most laborious tradesman declares that the spirit by which 
Jesus was led into the wilderness was the spirit of God, and 

z 2 



340 GOADBY EXPLAINS THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. 

consequently that he was under God's influence and guidance. 
In this state of soul Jesus passed through certain pictures, or 
vivid states of thought, which represented as many trials 
which would beset him in his public ministry. Contemplat- 
ing the forecast of these his coming perils, he learnt how, with 
God's aid and the aid of Scripture, to put away the inferior, 
though full of earthly promise, and to accept the superior, 
though full of earthly pain, contempt, and even death. He 
thus freely chose the better way. In the language of the day, 
he owned God and repelled Satan. In plain English, he in the 
greatest of all issues rejected evil and embraced good. To cite 
my author's own words : " Why (it might have been sug- 
gested to him), instead of spending your life in affliction and 
then ending it upon the cross, will you not use your power 
for your own benefit, and make yourself master of the world ] 
But this temptation did not at any time prevail over our Lord, 
notwithstanding the desire of honour, wealth and dominion, is 
natural to every human mind, and is with greater difficulty 
than any other subjected to the control of reason and con- 
science ; and notwithstanding universal empire carries with it 
charms almost irresistible, especially to noble and heroic minds 
conscious of their superior wisdom and abilities, and an inten- 
tion to employ their power to the true ends for which it was 
bestowed. If anything can heighten the virtue of despising 
worldly greatness when it comes in competition with our duty, 
it is the being practised in circumstances of indigence. And 
therefore to refuse, as our Saviour did, the offer of grandeur and 
royalty and universal empire, while he was struggling with 
poverty, reproach and persecution in the cause of God, was the 
highest act of virtue that humanity could exhibit. This account 
of the temptation of Christ obviates all the objections made to 
the common interpretation, and justifies the wisdom of God in 
this dispensation. It is not a series of external occurrences, 
some of them absurd and impossible, all of them useless and 
improbable, but an internal vision (like that of the apostle 
Peter, Acts xi.), and this is ascribed, not to a diabolical, 



LESS DIFFICULTY IN SCRIPTURE, LESS SCEPTICISM. 341 

but to a divine agency ; agreeably to its instructive and bene- 
ficial design and tendency. The several scenes of which, it is 
composed do each of thern contain a real trial, such as occa- 
sioned a very bright display of the virtue and piety of Jesus. 
If, besides the probationary nature, we take into our account 
the symbolical design of this vision, it was a proper prepara- 
tion for that important office with which Christ was now in- 
vested. With what divine skill are the scenes of this vision 
framed, so as to answer both these purposes ! What just 
ground then do they afford for censure ] The account which 
has been given serves to exalt the character of Christ and to 
confirm our faith in his divine mission." 

Mr. Goadby also shews in the same connection how the 
removal of scriptural difficulties tends to lessen the prevalence 
of scepticism and unbelief. Most true and important are his 
words. iSTine-tenths of existing doubt and disbelief in regard 
to Christianity are born and bred of an acceptance more or 
less real and vivid of my personality. Yes, the very men 
that ought in their teachings to exhibit the religion of Jesus 
in all its divine and human simplicity and accejDtableness, 
obstruct and prevent its spread by old wives' fables begotten 
of ignorance and superstition. And yet Christ said of him- 
self, " I am the light of the world ; he that folio weth me shall 
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life " (John 
viii. 12). How can such an averment be reconciled with 
popery as depicted by Pio Nono in his recently issued Syllabus, 
in which he pronounces a curse on modern civilization 1 — as 
if that culture were not a blessing from the hands of Divine 
Providence, bestowed in reward partly of opposition to Eoman- 
ism, and chiefly in repayment of mental freedom, moral in- 
tegrity, and personal energy and devotement such as have never 
before been witnessed on earth. 



342 



DE FOES GHOST STORY 



CHAPTER VII. 

EFFORTS FOR MY REVIVAL : DE FOE, WESLEY AND DODDRIDGE. 

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed a great 
and rapid decline in the belief of my personal existence. 
Not, however, without serious opposition was its demolition 
to be effected. The professional ministers of religion, whether 
Papal or Protestant, had long been assured that the interests 
of their faith and ministry were welded together with the 
belief in the various lines and manners of action ascribed 
to me in connection with alchemy, necromancy, apparitions 
and witchcraft. Accordingly, in their opinion, to contradict 
these unrealities was to endanger Christianity. Hence ensued 
a new batch of spiritualistic falsities. The tendency of the 
period is illustrated by the trick played by the celebrated 
De Foe on the credulousness of his age. One Dr. Drelincourt 
had written a treatise on Death. The subject, not one of the 
most attractive, consigned the lucubrations of the pious author 
to total neglect. The sheets of the work lay a heavy burden 
on the publisher's shelves. But publishers have their re- 
sources in cases of a bad investment \ and might not a loss 
be turned into a gain, perhaps a considerable one, if the 
popular author of Bobinson Crusoe could be induced to write 
a Preface to the heavy and cumbrous volume ? He undertook 
the task, and produced a ghost story which was so simply 
and naturally told as to defy disbelief, while in its tenor it 
put to flight all the objections taken by the active and daring 
infidels of the day to the existence of another and invisible 
world. The narrative is too characteristic of the manner in 
which, from being the offspring of speculation, fancy and 
fear, I have become a divinity, to be omitted in this my 
Natural History. 

" A True Belation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal, the 
next Day after her Death, to one Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, 



INVENTED TO SELL DRELINCOURT ON DEATH. 343 



the Eighth of September, 1705, which Apparition recommends 
the Perusal of Drelincourt's Book of Consolations against the 
Fears of Death. 

" This thing is so rare in all its circumstances, and on so 
good authority, that my reading and conversation has not 
given me anything like it. It is fit to gratify the most inge- 
nious and serious inquirer. Mrs. Bargrave is the person to 
whom Mrs. Veal appeared after her death; she is my intimate 
friend ; and I can avouch for her reputation for these last 
fifteen or sixteen years on my own knowledge ; and I can 
confirm the good character she had from her youth to the 
time of my acquaintance. Though, since this relation, she 
is calumniated by some people that are friends to the brother 
of Mrs. Veal who appeared, who think the relation of this 
appearance to be a reflection, and endeavour what they can 
to blast Mrs. Bargrave's reputation and to laugh the story out 
of countenance. But by the circumstance thereof, and the 
cheerful disposition of Mrs. Bargrave, notwithstanding the 
ill-usage of a very wicked husband, there is not yet the least 
sign of dejection on her face ; nor did I ever hear her let fall a 
desponding or murmuring expression; nay, not when actually 
under her husband's barbarity, which I have been a witness 
to, and several other persons of undoubted reputation. 

" ~Now you must know that Mrs. Veal was a maiden gen- 
tlewoman of about thirty years of age, and for some years 
last past had been troubled with fits, which were perceived 
coming on her by her going off her discourse very abruptly 
to some impertinence. She was maintained by an only 
brother, and kept his house in Dover. She was a very pious 
woman, and her brother a very sober man to all appearance ; 
but now he does all he can to null and quash the story. Mrs. 
Veal was intimately acquainted with Mrs. Bargrave from her 
childhood. Mrs. Veal's circumstances were then mean ; her 
father did not take care of his children as he ought, so that 
they were exposed to hardships. And Mrs. Bargrave in those 
days had as unkind a father, though she wanted neither for 



MRS. VEAL APPELRS TO MRS. BARGRAVE. 



food nor clothing; while Mrs. Yeal wanted for both, insomuch 
that she wonld often say, ' Mrs. Bargrave, you are not only 
the best, but the only friend I have in the world ; and no 
circumstance of life shall ever dissolve my friendship/ 
They would condole each other s adverse fortunes, and read 
together Drelincourt upon Death, and other good books ; and 
so, like two Christian friends, they comforted each other 
under their sorrow. Some time after, Mr. Yeal's friends got 
him a place in the Custom-house at Dover, which occasioned 
Mrs. Veal, by little and little, to fall off from her intimacy 
with Mrs. Bargrave, though there never was any such thing 
as a quarrel \ but an indifferency came on by degrees, till at 
last Mrs. Bargrave had not seen her in two years and a half, 
though above twelvemonth of the time Mrs. Bargrave hath 
been absent from Dover, and this last half-year has been in 
Canterbury about two months of the time, dwelling in a 
house of her own. In this house, on the eighth of Septem- 
ber, one thousand seven hundred and five, she was sitting 
alone in the forenoon, thinking over her unfortunate life, and 
arguing herself into a due resignation to Providence, though 
her condition seemed hard. ' And,' said she, ' I have been 
provided for hitherto, and doubt not but I shall be still, and 
am well satisfied that my afflictions shall end when it is most 
fit for me ;' and then took up her sewing work, which she 
had no sooner done but she hears a knocking at the door ; 
she went to see who was there, and this proved to be Mrs. 
Veal, her old friend, who was in a riding habit. At that 
moment of time the clock struck twelve at noon. ' Madam,' 
says Mrs. Bargrave, 'I am surprised to see you; you have 
been so long a stranger ;' but told her she was glad to see 
her, and offered to salute her, which Mrs. Veal complied with, 
till their lips almost touched ; and then Mrs. Veal drew her 
hand across her own eyes, and said, ' I am not very well ;' 
and so waived it. She told Mrs. Bargrave she was going a 
journey, and had a great mind to see her first. ' But,' says 
Mrs. Bargrave, 6 how can you take a journey alone? I am 



THE STORY TOLD WITH ATTESTING CIRCUMSTANCES. 345 



amused at it, because I know you have a fond brother.' 
6 Oh/ says Mrs. Veal, ' 1 gave my brother the slip and came 
away, because I had so great a desire to see you before I took 
my journey.' So Mrs. Bargrave went in with her into another 
room within the first, and Mrs. Yeal sat her down in an 
elbow-chair in which Mrs. Bargrave was sitting when she 
heard Mrs. Yeal knock. ' Then,' says Mrs. Yeal, ' my dear 
friend, I am come to renew our old friendship again, and beg 
your pardon for my breach of it ; and if you can forgive me, 
you are the best of women.' ' Oh,' says Mrs. Bargrave, 1 do 
not mention such a thing ; I have not had an uneasy thought 
about it ; I can easily forgive it.' ' What did you think of 
me V says Mrs. Yeal. Says Mrs. Bargrave, e I thought you 
were like the rest of the world, and that prosperity had made 
you forget yourself and me.' Then Mrs. Yeal reminded Mrs. 
Bargrave of the many friendly offices she did in her former 
days, and much of the conversation they had with each other 
in the times of their adversity ; what books they read, and 
what comfort in particular they received from Drelincourt's 
book of Death, which was the best, she said, on the subject 
ever wrote. She also mentioned Dr. Sherlock, and two Dutch 
books which were translated, wrote upon Death, and several 
others. But Drelincourt, she said, had the clearest notions 
of death and of the future state of any who had handled the 
subject. Then she asked Mrs. Bargrave whether she had 
Drelincourt'? She said, 'Yes.' Said Mrs. Yeal, 'Fetch it.' 
And so Mrs. Bargrave goes up stairs and brings it down. 
Says Mrs. Yeal, ' Dear Mrs. Bargrave, if the eyes of our 
faith were as open as the eyes of our body, we should see 
numbers of angels about us for our guard. The notions we 
have of heaven now are nothing like what it is, as Drelin- 
court says j therefore be comforted under your afflictions, and 
believe that the Almighty has a particular regard to you, and 
that your afflictions are marks of God's favour ; and when 
they have done the business they were sent for, they shall 
be removed from you. And believe me, my dear friend, 



346 OTHER " good" books, but none equals drelincourt. 

believe what I say to you ; one minute of future happiness 
will infinitely reward you for all your sufferings. For I can 
never believe (and claps her hands upon her knees with great 
earnestness, which indeed she did through most of her dis- 
course) that ever God will suffer you to spend all your days 
in this afflicted state. But be assured that your sufferings 
shall leave you or you them in a short time.' She spake in 
that pathetical and heavenly manner, that Mrs. Bargrave wept 
several times, she was so deeply affected with it. 

"Then Mrs. Yeal mentioned Dr. Kenrick's Ascetic, at the 
end of which he gives an account of the lives of the primi- 
tive Christians. Their pattern she recommended to our imi- 
tation, and said, £ Their conversation was not like this of our 
age. For now,' says she, ' there is nothing but vain frothy 
discourse, which is far different from theirs. Theirs was to 
edification, and to build one another up in faith, so that they 
were not as we are, nor are we as they were. But,' said she, 
4 we ought to do as they did ; there was a hearty friendship 
among them ; but where is it now to be found V Says Mrs. 
Bargrave, 6 It is hard indeed to find a true friend in these 
days.' Says Mrs. Yeal, 6 Mr. Norris has a fine copy of verses, 
called Friendship in Perfection, which I wonderfully admire. 
Have you seen the book V says Mrs. Yeal. 6 No,' says Mrs. 
Bargrave ; ' but I have the verses of my own writing out.' 
4 Have you V says Mrs. Yeal; 6 then fetch them ;' which she 
did from above stairs, and offered them to Mrs. Yeal to read, 
who refused, and waived the thing, saying holding down her 
head would make it ache, and then desiring Mrs. Bargrave 
to read them to her, which she did. As they were admiring 
Friendship, Mrs. Yeal said, ' Dear Mrs. Bargrave, I shall 
love you for ever.' In these verses there is twice used the 
word Elysian. 'Ah,' says Mrs. Yeal, ' these poets have such 
names for heaven !' She would often draw her hand across 
her own eyes, and say, ' Mrs. Bargrave, do not you think I 
am mightily impaired by my fits V 'No,' says Mrs. Bargave ; 
* I think you look as well as ever I saw you.' After this 



THE GHOST BECOMES PROPHETIC. 



347 



discourse, which the apparition put in much finer words than 
Mrs. Bargrave said she could pretend to, and as much more 
than she can remember (for it cannot be thought that an hour 
and three quarters' conversation could all be retained, though 
the main of it she thinks she does), she said to Mrs. Bargrave 
that she would have her write a letter to her brother, and tell 
him she would have him give rings to such and such ; and 
that there was a purse of gold in her cabinet, and that she 
would have two broad pieces given to her cousin TTatson. 
Talking at this rate, Mrs. Bargrave thought that a fit was 
coming on her, and so placed herself on a chair just before 
her knees, to keep her from falling to the ground, if her fits 
should occasion it ; for the elbow-chair, she thought, would 
keep her from falling on either side. And to divert Mrs. Yeal, 
as she thought, Mrs. Bargrave took hold of her gown-sleeve 
several times, and commended it. Mrs. Yeal told her it was 
a scoured silk, and lately made up. But for all this, Mrs. 
Yeal persisted in her request, and told Mrs. Bargrave she 
must not deny her. And she would have her tell her brother 
all their conversation when she had opportunity. 'Dear 
Mrs. Yeal,' says Mrs. Bargrave, ' this seems so impertinent 
that I cannot tell how to comply with it ; and what a mor- 
tifying story will our conversation be to a young gentleman. 
Why,' says Mrs. Bargrave, 4 it is much better, methinks, to 
do it yourself.' c No,' says Mrs. Yeal • ' though it seems 
impertinent to you now, you will see more reasons for it 
hereafter.' Mrs. Bargrave then, to satisfy her importunity, 
was going to fetch a pen and ink • but Mrs. Yeal said, 6 Let it 
alone now, and do it when I am gone ; but you must be sure 
to do it ;' which was one of the last things she enjoined her 
at parting ; and so she promised her. Then Mrs. Yeal asked 
for Mrs. Bargrave's daughter ; she said she was not at home. 
1 But if you have a mind to see her,' says Mrs. Bargrave, 
' I'll send for her.' ' Do,' says Mrs. Yeal ; on which she left 
her and went to a neighbour's house to see her ; and by the 
time Mrs. Bargrave was returning, Mrs. Yeal was got without 



348 



MRS. VEAL DIES ON THE SEVENTH, 



in the street, in the face of the beast-market, on a Saturday 
(which is market-day), and stood ready to part as soon as 
Mrs. Bargrave came to her. She asked her why she was in 
such haste. She said she must be going, though perhaps 
she might not go her journey till Monday ; and told Mrs. 
Bargrave she hoped she would see her again at her cousin 
Watson's, before she went whither she was going. Then she 
said she would take her leave of her, and walked from Mrs. 
Bargrave in her view, till a turning interrupted the sight of 
her ; which was three quarters after one in the afternoon. 
Mrs. Yeal died the 7th of September, at twelve o'clock at 
noon, of her fits, and had not above four hours' senses before 
her death, in which time she received the sacrament. The 
next day after Mrs. Veal's appearance, being Sunday, Mrs. 
Bargrave was mightily indisposed with a cold and a sore 
throat, so that she could not go out that day ; but on Monday 
morning she sends a person to Captain Watson's, to know 
if Mrs. Veal w r as there. They wondered at Mrs. Bargrave' s 
inquiry, and sent her word she was not there, nor was ex- 
pected. At this answer, Mrs. Bargrave told the maid she 
had certainly mistook the name, or made some blunder. And 
though she was ill, she put on her hood, and went herself to 
Captain Watson's, though she knew none of the family, to 
see if Mrs. Veal was there or not. They said they wondered 
at her asking, for she had not been in town ; they were sure, 
if she had, she would have been there. Says Mrs. Bargrave, 
6 1 am sure she was with me on Saturday almost two hours.' 
They said it was impossible, for they must have seen her if 
she had. In comes Captain Watson while they were in 
dispute, and said that Mrs. Veal was certainly dead and the 
escutcheons were making. This strangely surprised Mrs. 
Bargrave, when she went to the person immediately who had 
the care of them, and found it true. Then she related the 
whole story to Captain Watson's family ; and what gown she 
had on, and how striped, and that Mrs. Veal told her that it 
was scoured. Then Mrs. Watson cried out : £ You have seen 



APPEARS OX THE EIGHTH OF SEPTEMBER. 



349 



her indeed ; for none knew but Mrs. Yeal and myself that 
the gown was scoured.' And Mrs. Watson owned that she 
described the gown exactly ; 6 for,' said she, ' I helped her to 
make it up.' This Mrs. Watson blazed all about the town, 
and avouched the demonstration of the truth of Mrs. Bar- 
grave's seeing Mrs. Veal's apparition. And Captain Watson 
carried two gentlemen immediately to Mrs. Bargrave's house, 
to hear the relation from her own mouth. And when it 
spread so fast, that gentlemen and persons of quality, the 
judicious and sceptical part of the world, nocked in upon her, 
it at last became such a task, that she was forced to go out of 
the way ; for they were in general extremely satisfied of the 
truth of the thing, and plainly saw that Mrs. Bargrave was 
no hypochondriac, for she always appears with such a cheer- 
ful air and pleasing mien, that she has gained the favour and 
esteem of all the gentry; and it is thought a great favour if 
they can but get the relation from her own mouth. I should 
have told you before that Mrs. Yeal told Mrs. Bargrave that 
her sister and brother-in-law were just come down from Lon- 
don to see her. Says Mrs. Bargrave, 6 How came you to 
order matters so strangely V c It could not be helped,' said 
Mrs. Yeal. And her brother and sister did come down to 
see her, and entered the town of Dover just as Mrs. Yeal was 
expiring. Mrs. Bargrave asked her whether she would drink 
some tea. Says Mrs. Yeal, 6 1 do not care if I do ; but I'll 
warrant you this mad fellow (meaning Mrs. Bargrave's hus- 
band) has broke all your trinkets.' 'But,' says Mrs. Bar- 
grave, 6 I'll get something to drink in for all that ;' but Mrs. 
Yeal waived it and said, 4 It is no matter ; let it alone / and 
so it passed. All the time I sat with Mrs. Bargrave, which 
was some hours, she recollected fresh sayings of Mrs. A 7 eal. 
And one materia] thing more she told Mrs. Bargrave, that 
old Mr. Bretton allowed Mrs. Yeal ten pounds a year, 
which was a secret, and unknown to Mrs. Bargrave till Mrs. 
Yeal told her. Mrs. Bargrave never varies in her story, 
which puzzles those who doubt of the truth, or are unwilling 



350 THE IRRELIGIOUS DENY THE APPARITION. 

to believe it. A servant in the neighbour's yard adjoining to 
Mrs. Bargrave's house, heard her talking to somebody an hour 
of the time Mrs. Veal was with her. Mrs. Bargrave went 
out to her next neighbour's the very moment she parted with 
Mrs. Veal, and told her what a ravishing conversation she 
had had with an old friend, and told the whole of it. Dre- 
lincourt's book of Death is, since this happened, bought up 
strangely. And it is to be observed, that notwithstanding 
all the trouble and fatigue Mrs. Bargrave has undergone upon 
this account, she never took the value of a farthing, nor suf- 
fered her daughter to take anything of anybody, and therefore 
can have no interest in telling the story. 

" But Mr. Veal does what he can to stifle the matter, and 
said he would see Mrs. Bargrave ; but yet is it certain matter 
of fact that he has been at Captain Watson's since the death 
of his sister, and yet never went near Mrs. Bargrave ; and 
some of his friends report her to be a liar, and that she knew 
of Mr. Bretton's ten pounds a year. But the person who 
pretends to say so has the reputation of being a notorious 
liar among persons whom I know to be of undoubted credit. 
Now, Mr. Veal is more of a gentleman than to say that she 
lies, but says a bad husband has crazed her ; but she needs 
only present herself, and it will effectually confute that pre- 
tence. Mr. Veal says he asked his sister on her death-bed 
whether she had a mind to dispose of anything. And she 
said, ' No.' Now the things which Mrs. Veal's apparition 
would have disposed of, were so trifling, and nothing but 
justice aimed at in the disposal, that the design of it appears 
to me to be only in order to make Mrs. Bargrave so to 
demonstrate the truth of her appearance, as to satisfy the 
world of the reality thereof, as to what she had seen and 
heard, and to secure her reputation among the reasonable and 
understanding part of mankind. And then, again, Mr. Veal 
owns that there was a purse of gold ; but it was not found in 
her cabinet, but in a comb-box. This looks improbable; for 
that Mrs. Watson owned that Mrs. Veal was so very careful 



ARGUMENTS FOR THEIR CONFUTATION. 351 

of the key of her cabinet, that she could trust nobody with 
it ; and if so, no doubt she would not trust her gold out of it. 
And Mrs. Yeal' s often drawing her hand over her eyes, and 
asking Mrs. Bargrave whether her fits had not impaired her, 
looks to me as if she did it on purpose to remind Mrs. 
Bargrave of her fits, to prepare her not to think it strange 
that she should put her upon writing to her brother, to dis- 
pose of rings and gold, which looked so much like a dying 
person's request ; and it took accordingly with Mrs. Bargrave 
as the effect of her fits coming upon her, and was one of the 
many instances of her wonderful love to her and care of her, 
that she should not be affrighted ; which indeed appears in 
her whole management, particularly in her coming to her in 
the day-time, waiving the salutation, and when she was alone ; 
and then the manner of her parting, to prevent a second 
attempt to salute her. Now why Mr. Yeal should think this 
relation a reflection (as it is plain he does, by his endeavour- 
ing to stifle it), I cannot imagine ; because the generality be- 
lieve her to be a good spirit, her discourse was so heavenly. 
Her two great errands were, to comfort Mrs. Bargrave in her 
affliction, and to ask her forgiveness for her breach of friend- 
ship, and with a pious discourse to encourage her. So that, 
after all, to suppose that Mrs. Bargrave could hatch such an 
invention as this from Friday noon till Saturday noon (sup- 
posing that she knew of Mrs. Yeal's death the very first 
moment) without jumbling circumstances, and without any 
interest too, she must be more witty, fortunate and wicked, 
too, than any indifferent person, I dare say, will allow. I 
asked Mrs. Bargrave several times if she was sure she felt the 
gown. She answered modestly, 6 If my senses be to be relied 
on, I am sure of it.' I asked her if she heard a sound when 
she clapped her hands upon her knee. She said she did not 
remember she did, but said she appeared to be as much a 
substance as I did who talked with her. 'And I may,' said 
she, ' be as soon persuaded that your apparition is talking to 
me now, as that I did not really see her ; for I was under no 



00 2 THE REPORTER KNOWS THE APPARITION TO BE A PACT. 

manner of fear, and received her as a friend, and parted with 
her as snch. I would not,' says she, ' give one farthing to 
make any one believe it ; I have no interest in it ; nothing 
but trouble is entailed upon me for a long time, for aught I 
know: and had it not come to light by accident, it would 
never have been made public' But now she says she will 
make her own private use of it, and keep herself out of the 
way as much as she can ; and so she has done since. She says 
she had a gentleman who came thirty miles to her to hear the 
relation ; and that she had told it to a room-full of people at 
the time. Several particular gentlemen have had the story 
from Mrs. Eargrave's own mouth. 

" This thing has very much affected me, and I am as well 
satisfied as I am of the best grounded matter of fact. And 
that we should dispute matter of fact, because we cannot 
solve things of which we can have no certain or demonstrative, 
notions, seems strange to me ; Mrs. Eargrave's authority and 
sincerity alone would have been undoubted in any other 
case." 

There is the story of Mrs. Veal's apparition told in full on 
the best vouchers and argumentatively rounded off in every 
particular. I venture to say that not any of the <; thousand and 
one" stories qnoted to prove my personal existence can bear 
comparison with this for internal probability and external 
demonstration. Yet Mrs. Veal's apparition is a known fiction 
— what else then can the other stories be but collusions, illu- 
sions, or delusions 1 In general, they are made up of all three 
of those deceptive influences. If Mrs. Veal's apparition is 
a fancy, then ghost stories and other devilisms are fancies 
too. But the first is known to be such ; such consequently 
are the second. 

Ey a fancy, I mean a figment of the imagination set in 
action by morbid sentiments of some kind or other. The 
morbid sentiment in the Veal apparition was desire to get a 
literary fee. The morbid sentiment in matters Satanic is a 
compound product of low religionism, intense credulity, over- 



DENYING WITCHCRAFT IS DENYING THE BIBLE, 353 

riding love of what is called the Church, and a pretty strong 
infusion of self-interest. De Foe forged an apparition to "put 
money into his purse the priests forged me to sustain their 
priestism. The only essential difference between the two is, 
that De Foe knew what he did, and thought all whose opinion 
he valued would know it as clearly as himself; while the 
priests know not, or but dimly know, what they do, and in 
their ignorance turn bigots for what is really an eidolon of 
their own brain and their own position. As morals improve, 
cheats like that palmed off upon the credulous will become 
impossible ; as intelligence spreads, I shall cease to be the 
great patron of the Church. And bad as I am, I am not so 
bad as not to be willing to decay and die for the sake of a 
pure, spiritual and disinterested religion. 

However, so little did J ohn Wesley understand the true 
principles of the religion of Jesus, and so overrun was he 
with the superstitious credulity of the age, that he protested 
against the efforts made in his day to relieve the human 
breast from the bugbear of devilry. 

" It is true likewise," says Mr. Wesley, " that the English 
in general, and indeed most of the men in Europe, have given 
up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere old wives' 
fables. I am sorry for it ; and I willingly take this oppor- 
tunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent com- 
pliment which so many that believe the Eible pay to those 
who do not believe it. I owe them no such service, I take 
knowledge, these are at the bottom of the outcry which has 
been raised, and with such insolence spread throughout the 
nation, in direct opposition not only to the Bible, but to the 
suffrage of the wisest and best of men in all ages and nations. 
They well know (whether Christians know it or not) that the 
giving up witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible. And 
they know, on the other hand, that if but one account of the 
intercourse of men with separate spirits be admitted, their 
whole castle in the air (deism, atheism, materialism) falls to 
the ground. I know no reason, therefore, why we should suffer 

2 a 



354 



ACCORDING TO JOHN WESLEY. 



even this weapon to be wrested out of our hands. Indeed, 
there are numerous arguments besides which abundantly con- 
fute their vain imaginations. But we need not be hooted out 
of one — neither reason nor religion require this,"* 

Mr. Wesley is not the only distinguished divine that has 
encouraged superstition without intending it, and substan- 
tiated my existence while endeavouring to undermine my 
throne. Apparitions are said to arise for the very purpose 
of promoting Christianity. Hence the remarkable story of 
Colonel Gardiner's conversion, as related by Dr. Doddridge. 
" This memorable event," says the pious writer, " happened 
toward the middle of July, 1719. The Colonel had spent the 
evening (and if I mistake not, it was the Sabbath) in some 
gay company, and had an unhappy assignation with a married 
woman, whom he was to attend exactly at twelve. The com- 
pany broke up about eleven, and not judging it convenient 
to anticipate the time appointed, he went into his chamber to 
kill the tedious hour, perhaps with some amusing book, or 
some other way. But it very accidentally happened that he 
took up a religious book which his good mother or aunt had, 
without his knowledge, slipped into his portmanteau. It was 
called, if I remember the title exactly, £ The Christian Soldier, 
or Heaven taken by Storm,' and it was written by Mr. Thomas 
Watson. Guessing by the title of it that he would find some 
phrases of his own profession spiritualized in a manner which, 

* This passage is quoted from "Sketches of the Philosophy of Appari- 
tions," by Samuel Hibbert, M.D., who well remarks thereon: "I have 
no other view in quoting the foregoing passage from Mr. Wesley's works, 
than to shew the spirit with which he, and many other truly pious indivi- 
duals, were impressed, when they wished to revive the belief in apparitions, 
which was evidently beginning to lose ground. The anxiety they mani- 
fested to listen to all stories of a supernatural cast, soon gave rise to a host 
of needy romance -writers, who got up 'well-authenticated' ghost stories 
as fast as the free-thinkers were able to swallow them. But let us be 
thankful that we live in an age (1824) when the truths which are contained 
in the Holy Scripture need no additional confirmation from apparitions. " 
Pp. 457, 458. 



DR. DODDRIDGE AND COLONEL GARDINER. 355 

lie thought, might afford him some diversion, lie resolved to 
dip into it ; but he took no serious notice of anything it had 
in it ; and yet while this book was in his hand an impression 
was made upon his mind (perhaps God only knows how) 
which drew after it a train of the most important and happy 
consequences. He thought he saw an unusual blaze of light 
fall upon the book while he was reading, which he at first 
imagined might happen by some accident in the candle ; but 
lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to his extreme amazement, 
as it were suspended in the air, a visible representation of the 
Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross, surrounded on all sides 
with a glory ; and was impressed, as if a voice, or something 
equivalent to a voice, had come to him, to this effect (for he 
was not confident as to the words) : 4 Oh, sinner ! did I suffer 
this for thee, and are these thy returns V Struck with so 
amazing a phenomenon as this, there remained hardly any 
life in him ; so that he sunk down in the arm-chair in which 
he sat, and continued he knew not how long insensible." 
The appearance issued in the conversion of Colonel Gardiner. 
The phenomena, about the exact nature of which, however, the 
reverend reporter does not seem fully certain on all points, 
are so many recollected images of the mind, made preterna- 
turally vivid and impressive by the contrasted force of their 
sanctity and his own pollution. Not impossibly a severe fall 
from his horse under which the gallant soldier was suffering 
may have conduced to the morbid action of his mind. Doubt- 
less the tale was devoutly believed by Dr. Doddridge, who 
says : "It is with' all solemnity that I now deliver it down to 
posterity, as in the sight and presence of God ; and I choose 
deliberately to expose myself to those severe censures which 
the haughty but empty scorn of infidelity, or principles nearly 
approaching it and effectually doing its pernicious work, may 
very probably dictate upon the occasion, rather than to 
smother a relation which may, in the judgment of my con- 
science, be likely to conduce so much to the glory of God, the 
honour of the Gospel, and the good of mankind." 



356 LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY'S VISION. 

The transmission of the story would not have been less 
solemn and edifying had the good Doctor withheld the blow 
which he dealt against those who should think the phenomena 
explicable without intruding into the secret things of God. 
To impute infidelity to persons who differ from you is not the 
way to promote Christian truth. 

If the spirit of the passage is bad, the logic is not good. 
If Christ appeared to convert a soldier to Protestantism, he 
has (so Rome declares) appeared again and again to work in 
monks and nuns religious changes of one sort or another. 
Kay, avowed unbelief is not without its miraculous attestation. 
When Lord Herbert of Cherbury doubted whether or not he 
should publish his deistical book, De Veritate prout distin- 
guitur a Revelatione, &c, he took the following expedient for 
ascertaining his duty : 

" One fair day in the summer, my casement being open 
toward the south, I took my book De Veritate in my hand, 
and kneeling on my knees, devoutly said these words : 

"0 thou eternal God, Author of the light which now 
shines upon me, and Giver of all inward illuminations, I 
do beseech thee, of thy infinite goodness, to pardon a greater 
request than a sinner ought to make. I am not satisfied 
enough whether I shall publish this book De Veritate : if it 
be for thy glory, I beseech thee give me some sign from 
heaven ; if not, I shall suppress it. 

" I had no sooner spoken these words, but a loud, though 
yet gentle, noise came from the heavens (for it was like no- 
thing on earth), which did so comfort and cheer me, that I 
took my petition as granted, and that I had the sign demanded ; 
whereupon also I resolved to print my book. This, how 
strange soever it may seem, I protest before the eternal God 
is true ; neither am I any way superstitiously deceived herein, 
since I did not only clearly hear the voice, but in the serenest 
sky that ever I saw, being without all cloud, did, to my think- 
ing, see the place from whence it came." 

It would have been more satisfactory to others had his lord- 



NASH TAKES LIBERTIES WITH SATAN. 



357 



ship reported the words (if any) which the "gentle noise" 
conveyed. Inarticulate sounds do not say much. Uncon- 
scious credulity is the most extreme state of the disease. In 
so rank a soil as "that of the mind of Wesley, Doddridge, 
Herbert, I may well have grown from a fancy and a dream 
into a person and a fiend, especially when my impersonation 
was favoured by the conscious craftiness of a De Foe. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

I AM BECOME AN OBJECT OF DERISION. 

There is in human nature an inherent contempt for what 
is base. Accordingly, men have almost in all ages taken 
liberties with me. If in a certain w r ay this does credit to 
humanity, it works my ruin. What is laughed at becomes 
contemptible, and what is despised contains the seeds of its 
own dissolution. Only goodness in this universe possesses 
the attribute of everlastingness. An illustration or two of 
this undermining influence will give additional firmness to 
the logical structure I am here building up. These instances 
will be none the worse if they are taken from points some- 
what distant from each other. 

In the sixteenth century, when a fresh breath w 7 as coming 
over Europe, there lived in England one "Thomas Nash," 
who writes himself " Gentleman." This scholar and penman, 
being more skilful in spending money than making it, be- 
thought him of applying to me as the source whence many 
drew great treasures, who were no more moral than himself, 
and yet, as did he, vibrated constantly between contempt and 
fear in regard to me. Yes, he would put out a book dedi- 
cated to me, in w r hich he would set the timid wits a laughing 
at my expense, and so obtain readers, and thereby repair his 
shattered fortunes. Accordingly, under the name of " Pierce 



358 



HIS PETITION TO SATAN. 



Penilesse," he writes "His Supplication to the Devil, de- 
scribing the ouer-spreading of Vice, 'and the suppression of 
Vertue ; pleasantly interlac'd with variable Delights, and pa- 
thetically intermixt with conceipted Eeproofes. London : Im- 
printed by Richard Jhones, dwelling at the Signe of the Bose 
and Crowne, Holburne Bridge, 1592. "* The author describes 
himself and his object as follows : 

" Opus and Usus are knocking at my door twenty times a 
week when I am not within ; the more is the pitie that such 
a franke gentleman as I should want ; but since the dice doo 
runne so vntowardly on my side, I am partly provided of a 
remedie. For whereas those that stand most on their honour 
shut vp their purses, and shift vs off with court holly-bread ; 
and on the other side, a number of hypocriticall hot-spurres, 
that have God alwayes in their mouthes, will give nothing 
for God's sake ; I have clapt vp a handsome supplication to 
the Diuell, and sent it by a good fellow that I know will 
deliver it." 

Having thus introduced to you my petitioner, I shall read 
to you what there is in his petition which bears on the treat- 
ment I receive at his hands : 

" And because you may beleeve me the better, I care not 
if I acquaint you with the circumstance. I was informed of 
layte dayes that a certaine blinde retayler, called the Diuell, 
used to lend money upon pawnes or anie thing, and would let 
one have a thousand poundes vppon a statute merchant of his 
soule ; or if a man plyde him throughly, would trust him 
vppon a bill of his hand, without anie more circumstance. 
Besides he was noted for a priuie benefactor to traytors and 
parasites, and to aduance fooles and asses farre sooner than 
anie ; to be a greedie pursuer of newes ; and so famous a poli- 
tician in purchasing, that Hel, which at the beginning was 
but an obscure village, is now become a huge citie, wherevnto 
all countreys are tributarie. 

* " Shakespeare Society" Reprints, by J, Payne Collier, Esq., F.S.A. 
London, 1842. 



WHERE IS SATAN TO BE FOUND ( 



350 



"These manifest conjectures of plentie, assembled in one 
common-place of abilitie, I determined to clawe Avarice by 
the elboe, till his full belly gave me a full hand; and let 
him blood with my pen (if it might be) in the veyne of Libe- 
rality ; and so (in short time) was this paper monster, Pierce 
Penilesse, begotten, 

" But written and all, here lies the question ; where shall I 
finde this old asse that I may deliuer it? They say the 
lawyers have the Diuel and all, and it is like enough he is 
playing ambitexter amongst them. £ Pie ! fie ! the Diuell 
a driver in Westminster Hall 1 it can never be.' 

" jSTow, I pray, what do you imagine him to be ] Perhaps 
you think it is not possible for him to be so grave. Oh ! 
then you are in an errour, for hee is as formale as the best 
scriuener of them all. Marry, hee doth not vse to w r eare a 
night-cap, for his homes will not let him ; and yet I know a 
hundred, as well headed as he, that will make a jolly shift 
w 7 ith a court-cap on their crownes, if the weather be colde. 

" To proceed with my tale. To Westminster Hall I went, 
and made a search of enquirie, from the black gowne to the 
buckram bag, if there were anie such serjeant, bencher, coun- 
sailer, attorney, or pettifogger as Signior Cornuto Diabolo, 
with the good face % But they all ( una voce ) affirmed that 
he was not there ; marry, whether hee were at the Exchange 
or no, amongst the ritch merchants, that they could not tell ; 
but it was the likelier of the two that I should meete with 
him, or heare of him in those quarters. 6 T faith, and say you 
soV quoth I; 'and He bestow a little labour more, but He 
hunt him out.' 

" Without more circumstance thether came I ; and thrust- 
ing myselfe amongst the confusion of languages, I askt whether 
he were there extant or no ? But from one to another, Non 
novi Dcemonem, was all the answere I could get. At length 
(as fortune serued) I lighted vppon an old, straddling usurer, 
clad in a clamaske cassocke. Of him I demanded if hee could 
tell me anie tidings of the partie I sought for. 6 By my troth,' 



360 TRY WESTMINSTER HALL, TRY THE EXCHANGE. 



quoth he, ' stripling (and then he cought), I saw him not lately, 
nor know I certainly where he keepes ; but thus much I 
heard by a broker, a friend of mine, that hath had some 
dealings with him in his time, that hee is at home sick of the 
goute, and will not be spoken withall under more than thou 
art able to giue, some two or three hundred angels, if thou 
hast anie suite to him : and then perhaps hele straine curtesie 
with his legges in child-bed, and come forth and talk with 
thee j but otherwise non est domi — he is busy with Mammon 
and the Prince of the Xorth, ho we to build vp his kingdome, 
or sending his sprites abroad to vndermine the maligners of 
his government." 

" I, hearing of this colde comfort, tooke my leave of him 
very faintly, and like a careless malcontent, that knewe not 
which way to turne, retyred me to Paule's to seeke my dinner 
with Duke Humfrey ; but when I was there the olde souldiuur 
was not up. He is long a rising, thought I ; but that's all 
one ; for he that hath no money in his purse, must go dine 
with Sir John Best-be-trust, at the signe of the Chalke and 
Post. 

"Two hungry turne s had I scarce fetch t in this wast gallery, 
when I was encountered by a neat pedanticall fellow in form 
of a cittizen, who, thrusting himselfe abruptly into my com- 
panie, began to question with mee about the cause of my dis- 
content. I discourst to him the whole of my care. ' \Vhy' 
(quoth he) ' had I been privie to your purpose, I could have 
easd you of thys trauell ; for if it be the deuill you seeke for ? 
know I am his man.' 'I pray, sir, how might I call you?' 
' A Knight of the Post/* quoth he, 1 for so I am tearnied ; a 
fellow that will sweare you anie thing for twelve pence ; but 
indeed I am a spirite in nature and essence, that take upon 
this humaine shape, only to set men together by the eares, 
and send soules by millions to hell.' 

"'Xow, trust mee, a substantial trade; but when doe you 

* "A Knight of the Post" was a }:er. ; on who received money for giving 
bail for a debtor or other party in custody. 



NASH SHEWS LABOURED RESPECT TO SATAN. 



361 



send next to your master V 6 Why, every day ; for there is 
not a cormorant that dyes, or cut-purse that is hang'd, but 
I dispatch letters by his soule to him, and to all my friends 
in the low countreys ; wherefore, if you have anie thing that 
you would have transported, give it me, and I will see it 
delivered.' 

"'Yes, marry have I a certayne supplication here to your 
master, which you may peruse if it please you.' With that 
he opened it and read as followeth : 

" ' To the High and Mightie Prince of Darknesse, 
Donsell dell Lucifer, King of Acheron, Styx 
and Phlegeton, Duke of Tartary, Mar 
quesse of Cocytus, and Lord High 
Eegent of Lymbo, his distressed 
Orator, Pierce Penilesse, wisheth 
encrease of damnation, and 
malediction eternal, per 
Jesum Christum Do 
minum Xostrum. 

" 6 Most humbly sueth unto your sinfulnesse, your single 
sould orator, Pierce Penilesse ; that whereas your impious 
excellence hath had the poore tennement of his purse any time 
this halfe yeere for your dauncing schoole, and he hath re- 
ceived no penynor crosse for farme, it may please your grace- 
lesse Majestie to give order to your servant Avarice he may 
be dispatched ; insomuch as no man heere in London can 
have a dauncing schoole without rent, and his wit and knavery 
cannot be maintained with nothing. Or, if this be not so 
plausible to your honourable infernalship, it might seem good 
to your helhood to make extent upon the soules of a number 
of uncharitable cormorants, who having incurd the daunger of 
a jjrcemunire with meddling with matters that properly con- 
cerne your owne person, deserve no longer to live (as men) 
amongst men, but to be incorporated in the society of divels. 



362 



SATAN TOLERATES HERESY 



By which meanes the mighty controuler of fortune and im- 
perious subverter of destiny, delicious gold, the poore man's 
god, and idoll of princes, might at length be restored to his 
powerfull monarchie, and eftsoon bee set at liberty, to helpe 
his friends that have neede of him.' * * * 

u< Atheists triumph and reioyce, and talke as prophanely of 
the Bible, as Beius of Hampton. I heare say there be ma- 
thematicians abroad that will prooue men before Adam ; and 
they are harboured in high places, who will maintayne it to 
the death that there are no diuells.* 

" c It is a shame (Senior Belzibub) that you shoulde suffer 
yourselfe thus to be tearmed a bastard, or not approve to 
your predestinate children not only that they have a father, 
but that you are hee that must own them.' * * * 

" ' It is saide, Lawrence Lucifer, that you went vp and downe 
London crying like a lanterne and candle man. I meruaile 
no laundresse would giue the washing and starching of your 
face for your labour, for God knowes it is as blacke as the 
Blacke Prince. 

" 4 It is suspected you haue been a great tobacco-taker in 
your youth, which causeth it to come so to passe ; but Dame 
Nature, your nurse,t was partly in fault, else she might have 
remedied it. She should haue noynted your face ouer with 
lac virginis, which, bakeing upon it in bed till the morning, 
she might haue pild off the scale like the skin of a custard ; 
and making a posset of vergis mixt with the oyle of Tartary 
and camphire, and bathde it in it a quarter of an houre ; and 
you had been as faire as the floure of the frying-pan.' * * * 

I do not doubt (Doctor Diuell) but you were present in 
the action of Philip of Spaine, and helpt to bore holes in ships 

* The reader will hence learn that the Editor is not without early coun- 
tenance in his attempt to explode the grovelling and debasing fable of the 
devil as a royal personage reigning over some imaginary subterranean abyss. 

f Here, again, the Editor finds unexpected agreement with views which 
he gives in the early pages of this book. 



AND ENCOURAGES LITIGATION. 



3G3 



to make them sink faster, and rence* out galley-foysts with 
salt water, that stanke like fustie barrells with their masters' 
feare.' * * 

ut Is it your wil and pleasure (noble Lants-grave of Lymbo) 
to let us haue lesse carousing to your health in poyson, fewer 
under-hand conspyrings, or open quarrells executed only in 
wordes ; as if men will neecles carouse, conspire, and quarrell, 
that they may make Eufnans' Hall of hell, and there bandy 
balls of brimstone at one an other's head, and not trouble 
our peaceable Paradize with their priuate huriiburlies about 
strumpets, where no weapon (as in Adam's Paradize) shold be 
named, but onely the Angell of Prouidence stand with a fiery 
sword at the gate to keep out our enemies.' * * * 

a< Be advertised, Master Osfcetidum, bedle of blacke-smithes, 
that lawyers cannot deuise which way in the world to begge, 
they are so troubled with brabblements and sutes euerie tearme, 
of yeomen and gentlemen that fall out for nothing. If John 
a ^okes his henne doo but leap into Elizabeth de Gappes 
close, she will never leaue hunting her husband till he bring 
it to a nisi ■prius. One while the parson sueth the parishioner 
for bringing home his tythes j another while, the parishioner 
sueth the parson for not taking away his tythes in time.'" 

With one or two disjointed extracts I close the book 

" I pray ye, Timothy Tempter, be an arbitrator between 
these two, and couple them both by the neckes and carrie 
them to hel on your backe." * * * 

" Clim of the Clough, thou that vsest to drinke nothing 
but scalding lead and sulphur in hell, thou art not so greeclie 
of thy night geare, 0 ! but thou hast a foule swallow of it 
come once to the carousing of humane blood." * * * 

" Some men ther be that, building to much vpon reason, 
perswade themselves that there are no diuells at all, but that 
this word daemon is such another morall of mischiefe as the 
poet's Dame Fortune is of mishap ; for as vnder the fiction of 
this blind goddesse we ayme at the folly of prince-s and great 
men in disposing of honours, that oftentimes preferre fooles 



364 



" THE CHAP DID THE OU'D ON'." 



and disgrace wise men, and alter their fauors in turning of an 
eye as Fortune turns her wheele, so vnder the person of this 
olde Grathonicall companion called the Diuell we shrowd all 
subtletie, masking vnder the name of simplicitie all painted 
holines devouring widowes houses, all gray-headed foxes clad 
in sheepes garments, so that the Diuell (as they make it) is 
onely a pestilent humour in a man, of pleasure, profit or policie, 
that violently carries him away to vanitie, villanie, or mon- 
strous hypocrisie."* 



I have long been sensible of a rapid decline. I feel grow- 
ing chilly in my extremities. The freezing hand of death is 
moving near my heart. In this condition I not long since paid 
a visit to the north-east parts of Lancashire. The Lancashire 
lads and lassies are fond of a joke, and their jokes are not seldom 
somewhat rough and practical. As I wandered up and down, 
catching every now and then a sight of my emaciated form 
as reflected from this piece of water and that, I found myself 
somewhat pensive in the thought of my manifest decay ; 
when proceeding from the river side up a gently ascending 
bank, I saw a sign-board bearing the words, The De'el cpox 
Dux. What have we here 1 said I. The sign is to me a 
mystery. I will enter and inquire what it means. Ordering 
refreshment by way of introduction, I asked my host, " What, 
sir, does your sign mean ?" " 0," he replied, "it's only a 
bit of a joke. The chap did the ou'd on'." " Who's 6 the ou'd 
on' V % "What, dinna ye know that ] Where were ye born 
and bred 1 Why, the ou'd on' is the devil for sure." " And 
who's 'the chap' r "His name were Nicholas Gosford." 
" Will ye tell me the tale ?" " I dinna mind." The landlord 
complied, and I take leave to put his Lancashire into ordinary 
English. 

* The Editor is proud to find his o^wn view of the human parentage of 
Satan confirmed as early as A.D. 1592. 



PADDY GOSFORD AND SATAN. 



305 



The De'el upon Dun. 
" Paddy Gosford was a tailor by trade, and in times gone 
by occupied the house there on the bridge. Nicholas was 
honest, for he cabbaged only a quarter of the cloth entrusted 
to him, and good-natured ; but, like many of that sort, he 
liked a drop of drink. The money which should have sup- 
plied him and his family with the necessaries of life never 
could get past the door of this house, then called the Black Cat, 
so that Nicholas was for the most part miserably poor. One 
evening as he, with some of his pot-companions, was in that 
chimney corner, a stranger was announced. He was bronzed by 
travel, and indeed he had seen much of the world, for many 
were the wonderful tales he told the villagers. In course of 
conversation he mentioned a young man of Lower Saxony 
who had gained immense riches through the devil, and he 
talked much of the incantations that had been used in the 
transaction of the business. The stranger's words appeared 
to strike Paddy greatly, for he dropped many mysterious hints 
about them afterwards. The next morning but one, taking 
advantage of his wife's absence at a neighbour's, he performed 
the magical operation ; when forthwith the tempter stood 
before him with two attendant imps. With a terrific voice 
' Old Nick' asked Nicholas what he wanted with him. 6 No- 
thing, nothing, sir,' replied the tailor, shuddering from top 
to toe. 6 Nothing ? What ! am I to come all the way from 
home to this petty place for nothing ] You do not know, Mr. 
Snips, whom you have sent for ; but I will let you feel that I 
am not to be trifled with.' ' Pardon me, great sir/ exclaimed 
Paddy, falling on his knees. 'Well, then, what do you want?' 
c I only thought you'd aid me a bit in the money way.' 1 Well, 
what price will you pay V 6 Price 1 I'm very poor, your rever- 
ence.' ' Your soul's your own V ' Well, I thought so once, 
but I'm turned Catholic, and I fancy my soul belongs to them 
Whalley priests.' ■ No jeering, Paddy ; this is a serious matter. 
Now if you will sell me your soul, I will make you rich — as 
rich as you may wish.' ' It's a bargain, your honour.' ' Look 



366 



THE FEAT OF ARMS BETWEEN THE TWO. 



ye, then ; I will give you power to get as much money as you 
like. "Whatever you or your wife may wish for first after you 
meet, you shall have, on the express condition that you give 
me your soul twenty years after the bond is delivered to me 
signed with your own blood.' 'It's a bargain, your honour. 
Twenty years ! won't I have a jolly time of it I Twenty years ! 
twenty years I' 

"By and by Mx& Gosford returned home. 6 What makes 
you so light-hearted, Paddy ? said she. ' Faith and ye'll know 
in time ; but certainly I'm hungry/ 'You shall have your 
tea.' The tea was made ready and put on the table. ' I don't 
like this bread ; it's very dry.' £ I wish I had a backstone of 
my own, Pad ; wouldn't I make cakes you'd like V A good 
backstone was forthwith put on the tire by an invisible hand. 
On hearing these words, Paddy, infuriated, exclaimed, 6 Woman, 
what did you say ? I wish the backstone were broken into 
a thousand pieces !' Broken it was, almost ere the wish was 
fairly out of his mouth. The wily husband then thought he 
had better tell the whole to his wife, as he had only one wish 
left. Mrs. Gosford, on hearing the matter, bade the reporter 
go and consult the Prior of Whalley. £ 2s o, ye see, I'll not do 
that ; they'd burn me for having to do with the devil : and it's 
better to go to hell in twenty years than at once.' The next 
morning Paddy got up in an ill-humour. He and his ' mis- 
tress' had some words, for she did not like his dealings with 
Satan. Paddy lost his self-possession, and his memory there- 
with, and having to go to the Hall that moriiing to measure 
Sir Humphry, he suddenly said, 1 I must shave ; how I wish 
I had a can of hot water f A can was straightway placed on 
the table. That moment his recollection returned, and he 
exclaimed, 'It's all over with the money ! — and, what's worse, 
it's all over with me 1' 6 So. no. Paddy,' replied his thought- 
ful wife : ' go and consult the Hermit of Pendle : you know 
vou once saved his life.' After discharging his duty at the 
Hall, Paddy hastened to consult the Hermit, who said, ' It is 
a bad case, Paddy, and you're a fool for your pains : but give 



PADDY TOO CLEVER FOR SAT AX. 



307 



up your drink and do your duty to your family ; then the 
Church will stand by you, and all may yet be well.' 

" Time rolled rapidly on. Paddy, reformed in character, 
•did well in business. His family also increased. 

"But the fatal day came. The last hour of the twenty 
years found the Hermit of Pendle and Paddy's wife on their 
knees in prayer in an inner room ; while the husband, with 
his courage oozing out at his finger ends, waited in his shop, 
armed with a missal and holy water, the arrival of 'the 
Foul Fiend.' He came ; and, shewing Paddy the bond, curtly 
said, ' Come with me.' € Your worship !' the terror-stricken 
man said, 4 don't be hard with a poor fellow like me ; remem- 
ber you did not use me well in the matter of those wishes, 
not one of which did me any good.' 6 Well, as you're but a 
poor simpleton, I give you another wish; turn it to account 
for the good of your family.' The shop-door was open, and 
that moment Paddy saw a horse grazing in a meadow a short 
distance from the house. 4 Thank your lordship a thousand 
times for your goodness. I wish that you were riding on that 
horse back to the place from which you've come.' 

" The demon uttered a yell that was heard as far as Colne. 
The bond dropped from his hands. He leaped on the horse, 
and was carried away with the swiftness of the whirlwind. 

" Having thus got rid of his troublesome creditor, Paddy, 
under the Hermit's aid and direction, led a sober life, made a 
little money, took this inn, and put up the sign which drew 
your attention. The house nourished ; for from all parts of 
Lancashire persons came to see the only man who had fairly 
outwitted the devil." 

The narrator of the story shook his sides heartily with 
laughing at what he called " a capital trick." I confess his 
words had not relieved my melancholy. 

" And so," I said to myself, " it has come to this ! I, who 
was first an archangel and then the Prince of Darkness, am 
now the object of sarcasm in village tap-rooms ! My end is 
near !" 



368 



SATAN AND TTM BOBBIN. 



Little pleased with a spot where I had suffered so deep a 
humiliation, I winged my way to Eochdale ; — why, I hardly 
know, except that change of locality was relief of mind. 
Arrived there, I went in the evening for a walk through its 
not very elegant streets. Coming to a book-stall, I stopped 
and ran my eye over its dingy treasures. It fell on an 
engraved portrait of Tim Bobbin, who, from certain symbols 
at the bottom of the picture, I found to be a quizzical son of 
the brush. I took the volume into my hand, and, running 
through its contents, came near the end on these words : 
"To Mr. Eobert Gordon 
in Salford, 

With the Picture of the Devil on Horseback/' 

Well ! thought I ; this looks very like Paddy's tale over 
again. I'll read it. It ran thus : 

" Milnrow, April 8th, 1760. 

" Sir, — When I began to form the design of old Belzee on 
horseback, which you and your Newcastle friend ordered, I 
repented I had not inquired what sort of a devil you would 
have ; i. e. whether you would have a black or a red devil, as 
white, green, yellow or blue, according to all authors, are out 
of the question ; and also what colour of a horse ; and whe- 
ther if he rid on a mare, it would not do as well. But these 
necessary queries being unfortunately neglected, I have been 
obliged to guess at the whole, and have now finished the 
piece, presuming you'll not be so ungenerous as to turn it on 
my hands, because I believe it will suit no other person alive 
but your whimsical friend. 

" If we can believe most authors, ancient and modern, 
clergy and laity, there are many legions of these awkward 
spirits, some of which go about and roar like lions ; yet, 
though there are such incredible numbers and yell so loud, 
you cannot imagine how I stood staring with the chalk in my 
hand, being quite nonplused when I began to hunt for an 
idea, as having never seen the least glimpse of any one of them. 



TIM BOBBIN S DEVIL ON HORSEBACK. 



369 



But remembering that old Lucifer might he a child of some 
man's fancy in times of yore, I did not long hesitate, hut 
thought I had as good authority as any other mortal to make 
a devil of my own. 

" So I fell to it, and drew out my design, which pleased me 
tolerably well. 

" But, alas ! when I came to the colouring part, I was 
entirely gravelled, not knowing what colour to make his gal- 
loper. Here I had thoughts of annihilating my whole design, 
and giving up all thoughts of proceeding ; but suddenly 
recollecting that I had heard old folks talk of ; The Devil 
upon Dun,' I gave a jump, as thinking I had cleared the most 
knotty point ; but, alas ! two circumstances soon quashed this 
sudden joy. One was, whether this dun must be a horse or a 
mare, or a gelding ; and the other, whether it must be a fat 
or a lean nag. But not remembering any author that had 
ever wrote on these abstruse points, I resolved to guess at 
them ; and accordingly have not only made him a dun, but a 
sprightly, able, dun horse : because it is agreed on all sides 
that he goes with surprising expedition, especially when 
employed by court ladies in their gallantries, their husbands 
in amours, or ministers of state in all treaties which tend to 
faith-breaking, leaving their allies in a quagmire, or robbing, 
ruining or seizing their neighbours'" territories : — and so much 
for the horse. 

" As for the devil, his jockey, of whom I hinted before that 
I could not tell whether to make him ride in red or black, I 
have taken a method to obviate all objections, and made him 
ride in both. In short, he has the horns of a Scotch bullock 
in his head ; a dragon's tail ; a negro's hands and face ; a 
lady's scarlet capuchin on his head and shoulders ; a rake's 
ruffles : a parson's coat ; a beau's breeches ; a tailor's ga- 
mashes ; a jockey's whip ; and a lawyer's saddle. So if this 
horse and this jockey will not please your fantastical friend, 
you may tell him when you write to him that I'll never pre- 

2 B 



370 



SATAN OVERCOME BY RAILLERY. 



tend to paint a spirit again whilst I remain (as I hope I ever 
shall), " Sir, your most, &c., 

" Tim Bobbin." 

This subtle raillery finished my resolution. In retiring 
from business, I must relieve my character of one stain thrown 
on it by Mr. Bobbin. I confess that I have worn the several 
liveries he has dressed me in • but for what he says as to 
treaty-mongers — no ! I have never sunk so low as that ; not 
but I might have done, had I been tempted by certain great 
diplomatists of this my dying hour, who have lately been 
busy in " robbing, ruining and seizing their neighbours' ter- 
ritories but, in truth, they had no need of my aid, being 
fully equal of themselves to their atrocious plunderings and 
brutal devastations. 

The freedoms taken with me by the last-mentioned writer 
and artist are far surpassed by a devotee of the quill and the 
brush of very recent days. I have fallen into the hands of 
George Cruikshank and his sarcastic playfellows. By them 
I am stript of my majesty, and held up us a laughing-stock 
to the world. I am, however, greatly indebted to them, for 
they write and paint in such a way as to throw my mortality 
into fullest and sharpest relief. "Whoever peruses "The Beal 
Devil's Walk," " The Devil's Visit," " Old Booty," &c.* can 
no longer doubt that thousands and tens of thousands in the 
highest walks of life present my character and, in a measure, 
my form, with all its human failings and few of its human 
virtues, before the eyes of the world every passing day. In- 
deed, these my humanities, as I may term them, are so truly 
Satanical in the bad sense of the word, that I have been 
smitten with the fear whether, after all, I can lay down my 
sceptre to any good effect, so long as there are so many pre- 
pared to take it up and sway it perhaps more tyranically 
than I have done myself. 

* London: Kidd, 6, Old Bond Street, 1830, 1831. See also Landseer's 
Illustrations of Burns' "Address to the De'il and Gr. Cruikshank' s 
" Gentleman in Black." 



AC0NZI0 S STRATAGEMS OF SATAN. 



371 



CHAPTEE IX. 

PHASES OF MY DECLINE, EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC. 

This is the day of discrowned monarchs. As crowns when 
lost are of no value, I shall not waste my time in describing 
those that have been forfeited within the present century. 
Italy, Borne, Spain, France, Germany, have each and all seen 
that crowns and sceptres have no stability except as expres- 
sions of the popular will. With arbitrary crowns, the divine 
right to do wrong is rapidly coming to an end ; and if the 
divine right, then beyond a doubt the diabolic right is for the 
purpose of no value. In both cases the solid ground on which 
those prerogatives rested has been removed to so large an 
extent as to make it prudent to prepare for the worst. In- 
telligence, having achieved its emancipation, and in conse- 
quence become active and energetic, is on all sides busy in 
examining old foundations. In Protestant countries espe- 
cially I have lost my hold on the people, who either quietly 
drop me into half-unconscious neglect, renounce me with 
scorn, or amuse themselves at my expense. Deprived of the 
suffrages of the people, I am no longer of service to the 
priests, and already foresee the period of universal contempt. 
That trial I have not courage to endure, even if I had any 
hope of success. But what is the use of a devil universally 
denied 1 Not that the case is yet so bad as this ; but the 
worst must come, and I think it more decent to retire of my 
own accord, if only thereby to give effectual warning to all 
whom it may concern. 

One warning I have already given. I allude to a book pub- 
lished first as early as the year 1565. In the volume enti- 
tled Stratagemata Satan ae, The Stratagems of Satan, by Jacobo 
Aconzio, both priests and people may find a programme of eccle- 
siastical reform, the execution of which would have gone far 
to bring my reign to an end some three hundred years ago. 



372 



ACONZIO'S SCOURGE FOR THE PRIESTS. 



A contemporary of Luther's, Aconzio surpassed that great man 
both in principle and practice. Too liberal for Italy, he left 
his native land and found a fostering home under your English 
Queen Elizabeth. A greater honour she did not gain. Pro- 
ceeding on the great and widely-reaching principle, that every 
individual is answerable to God in religious matters, he gave 
bold and emphatic utterance to ideas which contain the germs 
of the ecclesiastical and religious reforms which have been 
effected since the age in which he lived, and which remain 
to be completed in coming years. So thoroughly is this state- 
ment true, that the reader of the book is involuntarily led to 
t hink of Jesus when, page after page, he meets with ideas equally 
strange to that period and equally true, lofty, comprehensive 
and benign. With characteristic consistency, the learned, 
liberal and truly Christian author carries the popular doc- 
trine of Satanic influence out to its full application. The 
ecclesiastics are not exempt from my influence, any more than 
other human beings. Indeed, they have vices peculiarly their 
own, and against these, in relation to themselves and to their 
disciples, he utters a voice of sober truth and earnest admo- 
nition. Indeed, he reproves and flogs vice as vice, sparing 
neither mitre, cowl nor crown, and uttering denunciations 
the most severe on all, whether Catholic or Protestant, who 
" point to heaven and lead the way" to hell. Viewed in this 
light, the book is a scourge for the priests even more than for 
the laity. The rights and liberties of the latter, indeed, he 
specially espouses and defends, never seeming more at home 
than when he sets forth the great, positive and ever-enduring 
principles and doctrines which constitute the religion of Jesus 
in contradistinction to the religion of the Churches. The 
entire volume, filled with the genuine spirit of prophecy, is a 
voice of warning, after the manner of the following, which is 
translated from its termination : 

" Woe to you who, bent solely on your own fame and dignity 
and the good opinion of the vulgar, in order to obtain the 
position of gods on earth, despise, afflict and oppress your 



ACONZIO's SCOURGE FOR THE PRIESTS. 373 

brother men, and usurp dominion over their consciences, thus 
surrounding their cities with Satan's power, and building 
strongholds on its behalf. Woe, I say, to you ; woe, woe ! 
What fearful punishment awaits you in the great day of retri- 
bution ! Nor do I say this to the high-priests of Borne alone 
■ — the cardinals and men of that sort ; for what else would it 
be than to lose my labour % To them also I say it who, I 
hope, have still ears to hear ; who, while, professing to love 
Christ, are assailed by Satan with such subtlety as to fancy 
they have no need of offering him opposition. Let each of 
them be on his guard. Rome is not the sole birthplace of the 
Pope ; he derives his origin from our parents ; not one of us 
but carries a pope in his own breast, sure to shew his face 
and power on the first opportunity, unless the pontiff opposes 
the design and contrives to extricate himself from the peril. 
Woe to the miserable man who tells of the great number of 
the damned, yet forgets how much he has contributed to their 
destruction, it may be in ignorance, it may be (woe to him !) 
after due admonition ! How, I ask, can such an one endure the 
terrible majesty of the Lord's eye, when he stands before his 
judgment-bar % What then will be his thought % his feeling % 
his fear % Bid adieu, then, my brethren, to ambition, to pre- 
tension, to anger, to animosity, to strife, to discord. Let Christ 
be the end of all our desires and endeavours — Christ and the 
glory of his name. Let us shake off that mortal torpor by 
which Ave are blinded against the snares that are set against 
us. JSTor let any one take credit for being already in harbour, 
while others, still at sea, need precautions. I repeat what I 
said but now, that whoever reasons thus with himself is either 
close upon a pitfall or actually in one. For whose speech is this 
but that of Satan, who persuades men that they are most safe 
w^hen they are in the greatest peril, and promises peace when 
he means war % Take care of thyself, my brother. Consider 
who thy assailant is. The more thou seemest to gain power 
over him, the more be thou on thy guard. The greater thy 
confidence, the greater must thy lowliness be, and the more 



374 



HIS ADMONITIONS NUGATORY. 



earnest thy prayer to God that he would shew thee the snares 
which beset thy path ; th y path, I say ; for each of us has 
his own. These perils thou must concern thyself with, not 
those which lie in thy neighbour's way. The need of prayer 
is greater even than the need of faith." 

The advice was disregarded, and by none more than the 
ecclesiastics. In consequence, what woes have afflicted the 
world since those vgise and heroic words were uttered ! Never- 
theless, they were not spoken in vain. A great change has 
come over society. Every passing year that movement be- 
comes wider, deeper, more powerful. It is gradually under- 
mining old foundations, and none more than my throne. I 
have in my own mind gone over the principal causes which 
have conduced to bring matters to this pass, and I will here 
mention some of them, if only to prepare you for parting com- 
pany with me. Ere I apply to the task, let me express a 
hope that my connection with you, dear young friend, has not 
been altogether unprofitable or unpleasant. It is perhaps one 
of the most promising features of the day that the clericals are 
taking to popular education; and if they really find pleasure 
in companying w 7 ith the young, may I not consider the com- 
munications I have made to you as likely to be of service to 
the rising generation ? 

Independently of that great social and religious cataclysm 
effected by the giant arm of Luther, and which in its main 
bearings was but a consequence of the extravagant power 
forced into my hands by the priesthood, and the unbounded 
tyrannical and cruel purposes to which it was turned for the 
suppression of thought and the aggrandizement of a caste, the 
restoration of the Bible to the haunts of men, breathing the 
warm and kindling breath of God, and so quickening men's 
hearts and consciences with a practical and earnest sense of 
both the supreme prerogative of personal responsibility and of 
the supreme duty of personal inquiry, has produced throughout 
the world a fermentation of mind, which, being favourable 
only to the real, the true, the divine and the everlasting, has 



THE ANTI-DIABOLICAL INFLUENCE OF LUTHER. 



375 



for three centuries been undermining all decayed and rotten 
bases, nor less establishing on their own native rock the great 
verities which serve man by owning and revering God and 
Christ. This one cause alone would have ensured my downfall. 
" Heaven and earth may pass away, but my words will not 
pass away," is the declaration of him before whose advancing 
footsteps I have been secretly receding for now nearly two 
thousand years. 

The Eible has begotten not only religious liberty, but also 
religious spirituality. It has gone far to bring back the simple, 
devout, loving and beneficent religion of Jesus himself. The 
reign of the Son betokens the empire of the Father ; and in 
a universe created and governed by the former and newly 
created by the latter, there is no place for me, and as little 
for the priest. The momentum of these two mighty powers 
has been augmented by the introduction of the press (1423), 
which is the great light-bearer in the " new heavens and the 
new earth" which are now coming forth with the rapidity, 
richness and beauty of an Oriental spring all over the surface 
of the globe. 

The operation of these three capital agents secures and 
guarantees a new order of civilization, which will leave shams, 
shows and shadows of all kinds behind. 

Then consider how the earth itself has been laid open from 
pole to pole and from equinox to equinox. The widening of 
the area of man's vision is the widening of his mental horizon. 
Where now are those deserts, marshes and gulfs in which of 
old I was supposed to have my home ? Men have gone over 
almost every acre of God's earth, and found not me, any more 
than they have found the fabled " Presbyter John" or the 
unhappy "Wandering Jew." 

Equally have astronomers disclosed the starry world. Have 
they discovered my dwelling-place 1 Have they come upon 
any traces of my footsteps 1 If even a shell-fish of the old 
world has left in stone an imprint of itself, surely so stupen- 
dous a potentate as I was did not traverse earth and skies 



376 THE OPENING OF THE EARTH BANISHES SATAN. 

without marking 1113' devastating presence with my cloven feet 
somewhere. 

But hell is said to be beneath. What is beneath, as contra- 
distinguished from above, in a universe where to you on 
this globe beneath and above change places every four-and- 
twenty hours 1 And so astronomy even confutes my existence 
as a personal demon, by shewing that there is no radical and 
inherent difference between ascent and descent, and that con- 
sequently that my going down into hell was and remains a mere 
figure of speech, derived from the ignorance of the dark ages. 
Yes j clearly here, again, we have to do with mens passing 
conceptions, rather than God's everlasting realities. 

The geologists, however, in the common sense of the phrase, 
have gone down into the depths of the earth : have they come 
upon me or my abode ? It would be at least as correct to say 
that the hand that formed this globe has solidified its entrails 
and thrown them up into this light of day that they may be so 
seen and studied by human eyes as to reveal to human minds 
its whole interior, which accordingly is in all its parts as 
familiar to science as is a mother's nursery to herself. Have 
the geologists come upon me or mine anywhere ? 

While these great disintegrating influences have been 
actively at work for some three centuries, re-casting the mind 
of man and re-forming civilized society, certain great currents 
of mental and moral force have removed the scales from his 
eyes, and given him glad sight of the glorious universe of 
reality that God has unfolded in his instructive panorama 
which unrolls day after day and night after night before all 
intelligent eyes. 

Under the beneficent leadership of Bacon, Science, that is 
accurate and systematized knowledge, has been carefully and 
successfully studied. In a certain sense it may be said that 
science, considered in its method, is a creation of the last two 
or three centuries. ISTow science, thus understood, means not 
only free and thorough research, but also full satisfaction of 
mind arising from sufficient evidence. This one position has 



MAN'S MORAL NATURE DENIES SATAN. 



377 



put a crowd of fancies and shadows to flight. Eesuming the 
study of every department of knowledge and belief, Science 
has brought them all to the bar of cultivated intelligence, and, 
making them give an exact and full account of themselves, 
has convicted nearly all the old notions as more or less untrue. 
To this bar real science brought all the pretended sciences of 
past ages, and condemned them one after another. As a part 
of its duty, it took cognizance of me, and I must fairly confess 
that I was proved to be as a person an unreality. This proof 
is none the less effectual because informal ; for in truth I have 
stood before the mind of every intelligent man in Europe, 
and been silently but emphatically condemned. The spirit of 
science and the spirit of demonology are so antagonistic, that 
where the one is, the other cannot be. Mental science has 
been specially busy within the last hundred years. The mind 
of man has been subject again and again to the most searching 
and minute analysis. Has it in its researches been led to me ? 
]STot the faintest trace has it met with of my presence. The 
mind of man is a unit, strictly and properly a unit. Having 
various qualities and aptitudes, it has one centre and is of one 
tissue, so as to be ever the same thinking organism, how 
different soever its manifestations. 

The same may be said of man's moral nature. Here at 
least you ought to find traces of " the fall" and of my cease- 
less operation. But man's moral nature Science pronounces 
not a ruin, nor a battle-ground between two or more extra- 
neous powers, but one harmonious whole. The unity of man's 
moral nature, as it is a datum of moral philosophy, so is it its 
fundamental axiom. 

The science of Eeligion does indeed find me everywhere 
and at all previous times. But in what shape ? A person ? 
No. A personal devil it finds nowhere. The name it finds, 
as it finds the name of witch and gorgon. But the origin of 
all three it traces back equally into the remotest and thickest 
shades of antiquity, and the actual effacement of the two latter 
guarantees the effacement of the former. The ghosts, indeed, 



378 



INDEPENDENCE OF CHRISTIAN MORALITY. 



have hardly yet taken their final farewell even of England, 
but they linger only to bear me company in my approaching 
departure. 

Meanwhile, every clay men are more and more enjoying the 
consciousness of their emancipation. Delivered from a brood 
of at least distracting and annoying falsities, they feel them- 
selves each his own master, and as such no less able than 
willing to work out each his own destiny, in making the most 
of the fine endowments and opportunities he has received from 
the wise and bountiful hand of the common Father. That 
generous and ennobling sentiment, no longer disturbed and 
darkened by the factitious distinctions of narrow theologies, 
makes every man the brother of every other and his co-heir 
of immortality. Hence the race of man is one family, the 
earth is the one great university, and heaven the one final 
home. Not least in consequence is the liberation that ensues 
from sacerdotal dictation as well as diabolical seduction and 
control. What ensues 1 " The glorious liberty of the sons of 
God." Man stands alone in the presence of his Maker, — the 
child in the presence of his Father. As there is no wrath on 
God's side, so there needs no vicarious pacification on the side 
of man. The Father leans toward his son, the son yearns 
toward the Father. True religion is born, and the birth of 
true religion unites the two. Eeligion now is a reality, and 
being a reality it is a power. Here is newness of life, and 
here is "joy unspeakable and full of glory." 

The morality of the religion of Jesus owes its value and its 
efficacy to its own intrinsic qualities. Founded in the will 
of God, recognized by the individual conscience, sanctioned 
by its adaptedness to human nature as well as its congruity 
with the universe, enforced by its appeals to the heart, and 
corroborated by every man's personal experience, — its ethics 
need no external legislation for their support, and no adven- 
titious rewards or punishments for their acceptance and ob- 
servance. And yet there are priests of the sanctuary who 
hold that Christian duty has no valid claim and no certain 



THE MORAL ORDER DISOWNS SATAN. 



379 



tenure except as accompanied by outward threatenings and 
superadded promises. The following are the words of Mons. 
1' Abbe Lecanu, of whose high authority in the Church of Eome 
I have already made use in my narrative : 

" In the absence of heaven and hell, there is no reason for 
being virtuous. There is not even a place for saints. In- 
stead of pursuing righteousness, it is far better to follow your 
inclinations. He would be a fool who should deprive himself 
of any pleasure, since there is no longer a reward for voluntary 
privation, or punishment for culpable enjoyment." 

This dictum measures the degradation into which morality 
has sunk under the extravagant use made by the writer and 
his co-workers of adventitious sanctions to virtue. That there 
should be "no place for saints" of this kind under a system 
of independent morality may well be believed; but then this is 
precisely its recommendation. Here, however, I have brought 
you face to face with the theoretical and practical ethics of 
Romanized Christendom. Its motto is, " No reward, no 
virtue ; no punishment, no vice." Consequently if I lose my 
personality and hell ceases to burn, the morality of the uni- 
verse is at an end. 

Such doctrines I brand as grossly and fearfully immoral. 
There is a moral order of the universe, and that moral order 
accomplishes its mission, under the finger of God, by intrinsic 
penalties and rewards. The divinely-appointed consequences 
of man's actions assert and maintain their inviolability. Every 
truly religious thought carries in it the seeds of its own har- 
vest. Every vice is a scourge which flogs the vicious. The 
vanishment of sacerdotal terrors and adventitious sanctions 
only leaves God's moral machinery to work unimpeded, and 
therefore to accomplish its wise and beneficent ends with ease 
and full effect. When I sink into kindred nothingness, God 
will shine forth only the more fully, the more refulgently, and 
the more effectually. 

Be at your ease, my gentle companion ; the death of Satan 
is not the death of moral retribution. That can no more 



380 A PERSONAL SATAN THOROUGHLY IMMORAL. 



perish, than the pillars that sustain the throne of God. God 
alone is quite sufficient for the government of the universe 
which he brought into being and constantly sustains. 

Equally manifest then as now will be the enormity of sin. 
Rather I should have said, far more manifest will it be. At 
present its intrinsic enormity is darkened, distorted and weak- 
ened by fabulous intermixtures. One of the most important 
duties of the present hour is to de-theologise religion and 
morality. This will ensue when a personal devil is no more : 
then will it ensue — but never before. 

Then, too, will mutual moral responsibility be felt in all its 
clearness and force. Mortals do lead each other into sin. 
The sin of the individual becomes the sin, first of a family, 
and then of a neighbourhood, and then of a country. There 
is in these facts a fearful account to give and a large repay- 
ment to make. But men's sense of their liability is dulled 
and destroyed by my intervention under the hands of sacer- 
dotal teachers of morals. Where there are two backs to bear 
one load, the load has a fair chance of not being borne at all. 
" Let each man bear his own burden," says the wise apostle 
(Gal. vl 5). And man's own individual and relative burdens 
are numerous enough and heavy enough to need no increase 
from Satanical suggestions and impulses. 

And here I must put before you one consideration which 
makes me totally hopeless in regard to my future. My assumed 
personal existence is thoroughly immoral in its tendency. 
Not only does it complicate all moral questions whatever, ex- 
tending even to the equity of God in his dealings with man, 
but it weakens and tends to nullify man's moral sense. On 
one side, man must feel himself overmatched when, in addi- 
tion to his own deep sinfulness, he is beset constantly by a 
fiend who is at least next to almighty, and whose rule depends 
on his success in misleading and corrupting human beings. 
On another side, he is relieved from his sense of personal 
responsibility by having another and a transcendently power- 
ful being on whom, as the real author of sin in general and 



PROCESS OF DECOMPOSITION. 



3S1 



of his own sin, the individual is justified in casting no less the 
guilt of sin than' the act. The notion, indeed, of vicarious 
demerit may have been possible as long as the corresponding- 
notion of vicarious merit remained in vigour; but in the degree 
in which the great principle of the religion of Jesus, namely, 
individual responsibility, comes into prominence and finds 
acceptance, the falsities ofSatanical deprivation and Messianic 
expiation become equally untenable and impossible. ~Nor when, 
in view of the numerous and horrible evils to which these 
pages bear witness as results of my supposed agency in God's 
providential government of the universe, you contemplate 
the human and divine reality, viz., that of a world pervaded, 
guided and blessed by the wisdom, goodness and power of the 
one Infinite Father, can any lower feeling arise than an over- 
ruling desire to obey the Almighty, if only from the admiring 
and worshiping love with which the soul is flooded in the 
contemplation of the disappearance of all spots from the face 
of the central sun, and of the sole and exclusive prevalence of 
the pure and serene lustre of such goodness in absolute per- 
fection as radiated from the life of "the Son of Man" during 
his public ministry on earth. 

That all-pervading brilliancy will totally eclipse me, a blotch 
on the face of creation, cast there by human hands, if only 
because, while the influence of me as an incarnation of evil is 
most demoralizing, the spirit of God in Christ quickens human 
souls with all pure thoughts, all chaste desires, all holy aspi- 
rations, raising them into that higher sphere whither temp- 
tation cannot come, and whence in consequence all moral evil 
is for ever banished. 

The process of decomposition thus effectually working in 
Great Britain, as well as in other Protestant lands, especially 
the United States of America, in connection with religion, was 
repeated on philosophical grounds and with all the rigour of 
the most cultivated dialectics in the schools of France and 
Germany, where it has produced results which either quietly 
ignore me as a phantom of the past, or assail my existence 



382 



DESCARTES AND KANT. 



with the t wo-edged sword of reason and religion, the keenness 
of whose edge and the temper of whose steel I have too often 
felt, not to shrink from tempting it any longer. 

The power of this adverse direction lies not so much in any- 
thing as to my origin and existence, as in the production of a 
freedom of thought and a lustration of mind which involve 
principles and sentiments with which the recognition of me, 
as a personal embodiment of evil, is utterly incompatible. 
Had not one dart been discharged against me by the hand of 
avowed assailants, I must have perished, as perish I shall, 
from the general tendencies of thought and effort which may 
be termed the spirit of the age. As much as the thirteenth 
century was "Satan's day," so much is this the day of the 
children of light. And I may hint at one or two phases of 
this period which exercised an unusual influence in sapping 
my foundations. 

When Descartes (1596 — 1650) laid the basis of his sys- 
tem of philosophy not so much in general doubt as in absolute 
denial, casting out of his mind (so far as he could) all its con- 
tents in order that honestly, thoroughly and safely he might 
build his intellectual house afresh, he recognized and recom- 
mended a principle whose observance was destined to be my 
ruin. Originated by speculation and supported on fable and 
authority, I received my death-blow the very day when these 
were set at nought, and a philosophic individualism was esta- 
blished in their place. 

So long and so far as that individualism, however, dealt 
with vague intellectual speculations, I found myself in an 
atmosphere in which it was possible for me to sustain a tem- 
porary existence ; but when Kant (1 724 — 1804) had shattered 
all these entities and quiddities, and made moral truth the 
source, essence and pabulum of existence, then I found myself 
totally shut out of the universities by the conjectural nature 
of all belonging to me, and specially by the evil dispositions 
I was said to cherish. 

And here, even at the risk of being misunderstood, I must 



THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. 



383 



place foremost some names who are of ill repute with rigid 
conservatives of all kinds. " The English Deists" of the last 
century did an important work, if only by blighting the 
poisonous blossoms and withering the deadly fruit that they 
found on that tree of life which was intended to be for " the 
healing of the nations," but which, alas ! had been grafted 
with apples of Sodom. 

Then came the great French scoffer, and did his utmost to 
crush what he called L'Infame — that is, the superstition of 
the priests. If he has in his composition too much of my 
bad side to deserve unqualified approbation, even I cannot 
deny that he rendered a high service to his race in his heroic 
defence of the persecuted Galas family, in such a way as to 
command the admiration of Europe, and to give the last blow 
to that compound of atrocities, the Papal Inquisition. The day 
that the Protestant John Galas was broken on the wheel in 
Toulouse (10th March, 1762), for what Voltaire proved to be 
the imaginary crime of murdering his eldest son in order to 
prevent his becoming Catholic — that day, owing to the noble 
and persistent efforts of the philosopher of Eerney, saw the 
rise in Europe and the world of the sun of religious liberty, 
nor less of religious earnestness and simplicity. Could I tarry 
to describe the scene and its actors, you would be disposed to 
say that in one of my worst moods I had transferred my 
slaughter-house for the occasion to the city of Toulouse.* 

About the time when this dreadful crime was committed, — 
reverberations of which passed over Europe, and everywhere 
stirred the hearts of righteous men with indignation, — a great- 
ordinal change was on the point of emerging in that old stern 
stronghold of civil and religious liberty which bears the name 
of England. William III., prince of Orange, ascended the 
throne in that land in 1688. Most auspicious event ! Then 
Nonconformity undertook to relax the bonds in which the 
mind of the nation lay cramped, though not subdued, and its 

* Jean Calas et sa Famille, par Athanase Coquerel Fils. 2nd ed., 1S69. 



384 NEWTON. LOCKE, LARDNER. 

three chief denominations, the Presbyterians, the Indepen- 
dents and the Baptists, began that fight which, either together 
or separately, they have kept up to the present hour, and 
which has eventually issued in freedom of speech and freedom 
of act ; leaving only one thing to be desired, namely, complete 
equality of all forms of religion in the eye of the legislature 
and in the intercourses of private life. 

This atmosphere is too attenuated, pure and ethereal for 
me to breathe in long. Either it must be altered or I must 
depart. The first of these three religious bodies received of 
"the Father of lights" a signal advantage. From being the 
strictest of the three in respect of religious freedom, it became 
the most liberal. Its liberality encouraged examination and 
research, and these led to the conviction that the central 
dogmas of Protestant orthodoxy were unsound. Among the 
condemned points of popular belief was my personality, which 
was openly disowned and combated among these people long 
before it was even doubted in the other denominations, with 
whom indeed it, for the most part, retains a weakened hold 
even to this hour. Here shine forth the names of Newton, 
Locke, Lardner, Taylor, Priestley, Price, and of many other 
lights of the world. 

The great service rendered by these champions of a free and 
simple gospel lies in their liberation of the morality of Chris- 
tianity from all sacerdotal accretions. This they effected to 
such an extent as almost to identify religion and morality. 
If in going so far they at all lessened the religious element 
and almost abolished the theological, the mistake may be 
excused in consideration of the fact that morality was almost 
sunk in ecclesiasticism throughout the Church. A morality 
that could assert its own rights and enforce its own claims 
was all but totally unknown in modern Europe until the En- 
glish Deists began to exercise their influence in England and 
Lessing published his invaluable works in Germany. Then 
a new era dawned ; and the degree in which its sun ascends 
toward the zenith is the degree of my decline. 



SCHLEIERMACHER. 



385 



The older German theologians retained more or less fully 
and firmly the ideas entertained by Luther, and which gene- 
rally bear the name of orthodox ; but philosophy and the 
spirit of the age gradually dissolved those views, so that the 
moderns, e. g. Morus, Reinhard, Storr, Knapp, Kaiser, Steudel, 
united with Michaelis and Dbderlein to doubt the common 
opinions, or, like Schott, Eckermann, Henke, Wegscheider, 
Yon Ammon, De Wette, Hase, Baumgarten Crusius, Bretsch- 
neider and others, set them aside as notions of the day which 
did not belong to Christianity ; while others, under the influ- 
ence of Kant, conceived of Satan as simply the ideal of wicked- 
ness, and so concurred in the view of myself which I have 
given throughout this Memoir, 

A still more distinguished authority, one who maybe called 
the originator and master of the modern spiritualism of the 
Protestant Church, Schleiermacher, constructing Christianity 
out of the Christian conscience, and finding no devil there, 
pronounces me a superfetation, and as such so ridiculous as 
not to be imputable to the belief of any one. " Belief in Satan 
forms no part of religion, and of his influence in consequence 
nothing can be said." The first lance thrust into my side 
was handled by an Englishman, who in the person of Reginald 
Scott"" resolutely denied that I could change the laws of nature. 
Bekker of Amsterdam,f as already set forth, went a step 
farther. Placing himself on the ground of Cartesianism, he 
rejected all action of malign spirits on the sensible world, and 
maintained that demoniacal possessions are only imaginations 
or diseases of the mind. This opinion, put forward by medical 
men of the time of Origen, is now generally held by the think- 
ing and cultivated public. 

English orthodoxy, both conformist and nonconformist, 
more conservative of error than curious after truth, does indeed 
continue to countenance me, at least in form and from the 
popular pulpits ; but daily does the patronage in the higher 

* The Discovery of Witchcraft. London, 1534. 
f Le Monde Enchant e. 

2 c 



386 



THE UNITARIANS. 



and more scholarly levels grow, here subdued, there qualified, 
there timid, and there half-ashamed of itself ; so that, unless 
I of my own accord renounce my claims, I shall, I foresee, ere 
long be deserted by the theology as well as the intelligence of 
the English nation. This impending abandonment will doubt- 
less be due to the combined influence of the causes to which I 
have referred. But one or two special ones deserve mention. 

The Unitarians of England and the United States have long 
denied my personal existence, and some of their best divines, 
Estlin,* Simpson,t Scott, j Grundy, § and one of their most 
effective missionaries, || have in print assailed my scriptural 
claims ; moreover, the general tendency of their reasonable and 
spiritual direction of religious thought and effort, as seen in the 
writings of Parker and Martineau, being in favour of the final 
prevalence of the Divine will, and consequently of human 
purity and happiness, has worked silently but effectually so as 
to threaten to issue in my final overthrow. Yet had the 
example of these excellent men been less sparingly followed in 
more recent days, fanaticism would be nearer its sepulchre 
than it is, not in England only, but in Scotland, where I have 
been all but worshiped, and where I am still held in a slavish 
respect of which I am myself ashamed. 

Another body of religionists must not be passed wholly in 
silence, since they, at least in their offspring in the United 
States, have contributed largely to the " decline and fall" of 
an empire more huge and more baneful than that of ancient 
Borne — I allude to the Universalists. They originated in the 
latter part of the last century in Great Britain in two cen- 
tres. One was Trinitarian. Here the Universalists, holding 

* Estlin's Discourses on Universal Restitution, 
f Essays on the Language of Scripture. 
$ Lectures on the Devil. 

§ Lecture on the Devil, in his " Evangelical Christianity." 
|| Richard Wright : Essay on the Existence of the Devil. 
See pai'ticularly Dr. Southwood Smith's Illustrations of the Divine 
Government, 3rd ed. London, 1822. Since reprinted in a cheap form. 



THE UNIVERSALISTS. 



387 



to the doctrine of vicarious substitution, maintained that, 
since Christ died for all, all would share in the benefits of his 
death. Consequently Satan aud hell were superfluities. Sin 
was a disease which would yield under the hand of God in 
death. Of persons holding these views, there were congrega- 
tions in London, Salisbury, Portsmouth and Glasgow. 

The other branch of English Universalists were more or less 
intimately connected with the rationalistic tendency which 
sprang from English Deism. Of these Mr. Vidler was an 
eloquent representative in the Metropolis of England. The 
Universalists are now a large aud influential body, especially 
in the United States. Among their principal authors are 
Ballou and Chapin. 

The joint operation of these and similar influences has 
utterly changed men's view of the universe, and that not in 
its physical relations alone, but also, and emphatically, in its 
moral and religious. The universe is one. Its physical and 
its moral order are one severally and one in combination. 
This one universe has one Source and one Governor. Con- 
sequently one will produces, sustains and guides the whole. 
That will is the will of the One Universal Father. The period 
in which this sublime verity is coming into recognition may 
be appropriately called the Eule of the Father. As such, it 
is the rule of the Son. AVhat else is it, then, than the king- 
dom of God on earth ? Here you see the triumph of the 
religion of Jesus. Here you witness the fulfilment of pro- 
phecy. Here you behold God's wise and benevolent pur- 
poses for his children of mankind, worked out and clearly 
presented, at least in outline. The outline is such as to 
expand into a full and august portrait — the portrait of the 
living God imprinted on the moral and spiritual creation. 
Seeing these sublime and enduring realities, you see so many 
tokens and premonitions of my decay. There is no place for 
me in a universe which is pervaded and blessed by the spirit 
of the Universal Father. 

I have enumerated the principal causes of my decay as they 



3SS 



SATAN A FANCY, A SOUND, A NAME. 



have been in operation during some three hundred years. 
These are mostly extraneous. They produce their effect by 
operating mainly on the exterior. But in truth, like every- 
thing mortal, I carry within me the seeds of my own disso- 
lution. As a name rather than a being I share in the cor- 
ruptibility and decay of all forms of language whatever. The 
reflection of a day-dream of some " untutored Indian," I only 
took an outward shape when his descendants had acquired 
the difficult art of linguistical articulation. Thus becoming 
an echo of the human voice, I spread from individual to 
individual and from hut to hut, an aerial phantom which all 
feared and none could describe. Ey and by that sound ac- 
quired the solidity and exercised the functions of a proper 
name. Xow, then, my existence assumed a certain superficial 
reality. Centuries passed away, and still I was nothing more 
concrete than an articulate sound. However, the time came 
when from audible signs I passed, on the discovery of writing, 
into some kind of visible form. Then first men called me 
and wrote me down as Satan. But here, too, there is a his- 
tory, which I can explain only by using the corresponding 
English term. I was the Adversary. Originally they had 
spoken of me as adverse, that is as evil. Opposition they found 
on every side, and opposition must, they felt, have its cause. 
I was that cause. But the assertion was at first particular, 
and became general only by degrees. Accordingly men said 
it (that which was opposite in any case to their wishes or 
their interests) — It was bad. It took centuries to transmute 
this bad into many bads, and centuries more to condense all 
these into badness. Still, however, we have no personal sign. 
Who can say how long it took to enable the semi-barbarous 
races to speak of a bad one? Another slow process of growth 
gave birth to the bad one. Another, again, was requisite to 
put the sound into writing, as " the bad One." Here we have 
the components of the idea involved in " the Adversary." 
But this Adversary is only local. Untold ages must have 
passed before the bad one or the advesary of one tribe became 



SATAN SIMPLY " THE ADVERSARY. 



389 



the adversary of an island, a continent, a hemisphere, the 
earth. 

And so at last we are brought to the general conception 
of The Adversary. Comparatively very late in the progress 
of culture must be the date of the origin of the personal desig- 
nation, The Adversary. 

And now, my valued amanuensis, consider of what elements 
this written sign consists. You, like most other ordinary 
persons, suppose that in the Adversary or the Satan you have 
a concrete living and permanent individual. That, however, 
is a mere conception — a figment of your own plastic brain. 
Men create their own devil, and they create him out of the 
sounds which they have uttered and the visible signs they 
have invented. In reality, that which is denoted by the term 
The Adversary, is, if looked at, merely a certain combination 
of visible lines and curves, and, if uttered, certain reverbera- 
tions of the stricken air. 

" And is Satan nothing more substantial than this ?" you 
ask. I reply, whatever else it is comes from your own pro- 
lific mind. The proof is, that "the Adversary," if you go 
back through the process by which you saw it come into 
existence, can be reduced to its successive shapes, until at last 
it passes from a visible, audible and articulate something, into 
a notion, a fancy, a dream of your own, begotten of some piece 
of ill-luck, some raging tempest, some serious disappointment, 
some fit of ill-humour, some dark presage occasioned by annoy- 
ance, vexation, or even indigestion. It is himself that man 
throws outwardly in the visible and audible signs which are 
called written language. I am then in reality nothing more 
substantial than a projection of a certain state of man's mind. 
"Were the projection an image of man's highest culture, it 
would be a reality. But in truth the projection is simply the 
deepest shade of mans unculture. In other words, it is a 
shadow of the hugest misconception man ever made, born of 
his ignorance, bred on his narrowness ; nurtured in his lowest 
and fiercest passions, and brought to maturity long before 



390 



satax's real rise involves his fall. 



truth and reality had dawned on the human race. As such, 
it is merely a projection of a state of the human mind which 
the race has outlived in all its higher representatives, and which 
now darkens and disturbs only the lowest and most depraved, 
that is the least human, circles of society. 

This concise history contains a prophecy of my speedy 
downfall. As other personifications have ceased to be viewed 
as persons, — as the sun and the moon have passed from per- 
sonal beings into mere organic matter, — so am I, in my turn, 
destined to dissolve and vanish into the empty air out of 
which I received my personal existence from some human 
lip long ago reduced to dust. Sic transit gloria mundi. 

"How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning ! 
How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst harass the nations !" 

(Is. xiv. 12.) 

Were any doubt left as to that fall by the previous consi- 
derations, I proceed to mention one wdiieh removes the possi- 
bility of a question. I am the child of a dualistic conception 
of the universe, and can live no longer than it survives. 
Arising in a barbarous age, the notion of tw r o great powers or 
principles as the sources of good and evil, light and darkness, 
happiness and woe, spread so as to cover the whole area of 
the mind and life of man. Hence arose subaltern dualisms, 
such as mind and matter, body and soul, spirit and flesh, 
heaven and hell, which, sharply sundered the one from the 
other, set the whole w r orld, not in contrast only, but in colli- 
sion. Down to a recent date, this universal dualism governed 
thought, directed metaphysical speculation, moulded creeds, 
and shaped and coloured the Church. Accordingly, you had 
monarchs to rule and subjects to obey, priests to dictate and 
laymen to believe, soldiers to fight and civilians to pay the 
cost. The whole tendency of intellectual philosophy during at 
least a century has been adverse to this antagonism and favour- 
able to a Unitarian view, as of God and the universe, so of 
human beings in all their relations. God and the universe 
are one in the sense that the former produces the latter, which 



SATAN LIVES AND DIES WITH DUALISMS. 



391 



he pervades and in which he is mirrored. In that universe 
is man, the least inadequate image of God. Man in himself 
is one being, endowed with various aptitudes, which differ 
but do not conflict, being all meant and all fitted to grow into 
concord, alike well proportioned, beautiful and efficient. Sin, 
therefore, though baneful, as consisting in actual disobedience 
to the Divine will, is overruled for good, and will in the 
end be made to serve the wise and benign purposes of the 
infinite Father. Meanwhile there is a counterworking of the 
animal and the spiritual nature, but not such as to involve an 
internecine war. Moreover, mind is only the root of which 
matter is the fruit, and matter is the form of which mind is 
the substance. The body, too, is the soul in outer and visible 
manifestation. In the same way death is but the first step 
on to the higher life ; for man under God is immortal — man 
consisting of a spirit allying him to his Maker, and a body 
connecting him with the phenomenal world; and as that world 
will ever co-exist with the world of substance, so will men 
after death possess some aerial organism (Paul's " spiritual 
body") by and through which spirits of all orders will inter- 
communicate. Xo longer then will the universe be a com- 
pound of antinomies, but rather a combination of harmonies. 
Heaven and hell, considered as places, will disappear. The 
kingdom or rule of God will have for its happy result the 
kingdom of heaven. The reign of the " All- Father " will be my 
exclusion from sovereignty. One God, the Source, Author, 
Governor and Benefactor of all things, leaves neither place 
nor function for the devil. It follows, that the full realiza- 
tion of the Hebrew monotheism is the realization of the 
highest good of the universe, and the highest good of the 
universe necessarily excludes evil in person, in principle, in 
manifestation and in practice. 

So much for what I may term the intellectual and historical 
aspect of this question. I pass to the ethical. Yes, there is 
something deeper still — something which, like a canker-worm, 
is eating out my vitals. Whatever I am, whether a person, a 



392 



satan's compunction. 



personification, a power or a word, I am, according to universal 
opinion, bad, wicked, base. In this description of myself I 
shall carry the world at large with me. As such, I am rotten 
at the core. Either there is no God, or goodness alone is 
permanent and everlasting. Deny the averment, and you 
make wickedness eternal no less than goodness ; and two 
eternals are two gods. But two gods in conflict means the 
rule of infinite confusion. What is that but boundless weak- 
ness and uncertainty % And so here, again, you are brought 
to practical atheism, or, what is the same thing, all-pervading 
chaos. But as evil, I totally lack the element of permanency. 
Hence one of the two contending parties is an unreality. 
Evil, as evil, must perish or be permanent. If permanent, it 
makes good insecure, and an insecure God is no God at all. 
Evil, then, is not permanent. If not permanent, it is perish- 
able ; and whatever is perishable must come to an end. Such 
is my fate. 

The result is merited. I cannot look back on my past 
without compunction. I have been the occasion to the human 
race of innumerable deceptions. Yet in extenuation I must 
plead that, after all, it is rather man who has flogged himself 
with his own chimeras. Unhappily, those who should have 
delivered him from the viperous brood have nourished and 
propagated it. However, at this my extremely advanced age, 
I am too oppressed with contrition, in view of the terrors and 
woes I have caused, to tolerate the feeling of reproving others. 
I leave them to their own reflections, as I am prompted by 
mine in thus making my confession and expressing my sorrow. 
I cannot, however, refrain from saying, that as I have been 
led by penitence to expose the terrible deceit which my name 
represents, I hope that all who have been my masters or 
my servants will join with me in doing their best to rid the 
world of the most deadly of its plagues. 

But I deny that I am solely evil. As a human offspring, I 
have my good qualities no less than my bad. The better side 
of my nature anticipates with serene satisfaction the sunder- 



MY DEATH AND DELIVERANCE. 



393 



ance and rejection of the inferior side. Anticipated death, 
then, has in reserve no alarm, no distress for me. On the 
contrary, I look forward with calm delight to the time when 
I shall be delivered from the body of this death (Eom. vii. 24). 
My deliverance will be at once cause and consequence of the 
deliverance of the human race. This bright prospect do you 
go forth and hold out to the nations. Men will be won by 
hope, while they are borne down and destroyed by fear. The 
reign of love in the Church will make the Church as universal 
as the sunbeam, and equally beneficent. But this attractive 
future is depicted by the great apostle more truly and more 
attractively than can be done by any words of mine, and 
therefore I ask you to study the following quotation from 
Paul's Epistle to the Eomans : 

"As many as are led by the spirit of God are the sons of 
God. And ye did not receive the spirit of bondage leading 
unto fear ; but ye received the spirit of adoption wherein ye 
cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself beareth witness to our 
spirit that we are children of God : and if children, then 
heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; since we 
are suffering with him to the end, that Ave also may be glorified 
with him : for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time 
are of no account in comparison of the glory which is to be 
revealed in us ; for the earnest expectation of the creation is 
waiting for the revelation of the sons of God ; for the creation 
was made subject to vanity, not of its own willy but by reason 
of him who made it subject in hope : for the very creation 
itself shall be set free from the bondage of corruption into 
the liberty of the glory of the children of God ; for we know 
that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain toge- 
ther until now ; and not only so, but even ourselves, having 
the first fruit of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within 
ourselves, waiting for the end of the adoption, to wit, the 
redemption of our body. Moreover, we know that to them 
that love God all things work together for <?ood. Who shall 
separate us from the love of Christ ? Xeither death, nor life. 



394 



KEPPLER. 



nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things 
to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 



CHAPTEE X. 

TESTIMONIES. 

Mine has been a bold task. But for some noble members 
of your race it could not have been performed. In their 
writings I have found light, encouragement and courage. I 
will cite a few words ; and I cite what follows with the greater 
satisfaction because, while it justifies the task I have performed 
and upholds the principles I have in part acted on, in part 
enforced, it relieves me from any charge of narrowness, since 
the witnesses I adduce in my own cause are for the most part 
ministers of religion. Were they the priests whom I warn 
the world against, no word of theirs could have been adduced 
in favour of the great aims of the composition which, having 
reviewed its sheets more than once, I now, dear Theophilus, 
put into your hands for publication. 

Keppler. 
TJie two revealing Books. 
The day will soon dawn when pious simplicity will be 
ashamed of its blind superstition, when men will acknowledge 
truth no less in the book of Xature than in the Sacred Scrip- 
tures, and rejoice alike over both revelations. 

Spinoza. 

Harmon y of rigid thinking and right acting. 
What is most consonant with reason is most conducive to 
virtue. 



BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR. 



395 



Chillingworth. 

Reason is the judge. 

For my own part, I am certain that God hath given us our 
reason to discern between truth and falsehood ; and he that 
makes not this use of it, but believes things he knows not why, 
I say it is by chance that he believes the truth, and not by 
choice ; and I cannot but fear that God will not accept this 
sacrifice of fools. — Religion of Protestants, p. 133. 

Bishop Jeremy Taylor. 

Eeason is the judge; that is, we being the persons that 
are to be persuaded, we must see that we be persuaded rea- 
sonably. — Liberty of Prophesyiny (1687), p. 507. 

Bishop Gibson. 

It is universally acknowledged that Eevelation itself is to 
stand or fall by the test of reason ; or, in other words, accord- 
ing as reason finds the evidences of its coming from God to 
be or not to be sufficient and conclusive, and the matter of it 
to contradict or not contradict the natural notions which 
reason gives us of the being and attributes of God. — Second 
Pastoral Letter (1730). 

Dean Pride aux. 

Let what is written in all the books of the !N"ew Testament 
be tried by that which is the touchstone of all religions, — I 
mean that religion of nature and reason which God has written 
in the hearts of every one of us from the first creation ; and 
if it varies from it in any particular, if it prescribes any one 
thing which may in the minutest circumstances thereof be 
contrary to its righteousness, I will then acknowledge this to 
be an argument against us, strong enough to overthrow the 
whole cause, and make all things else that can be said for 
it totally ineffectual for its support. — Letter to the Deists 
(1748). 



396 



ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON. 



Archbishop Tillotson. 
All our reasonings about revelation are necessarily gathered 
by our natural notions about religion, and therefore he who 
sincerely desires to do the will of God is not apt to be imposed 
on by vain pretences of divine revelation ; but if any doc- 
trine be proposed to him which is pretended to come from 
God, he measures it by those sure and steady notions which 
he has of the Divine nature and perfections ; he will consider 
the nature and tendency of it, or whether it be a doctrine 
according to godliness, such as is agreeable to the Divine 
nature and perfections, and tends to make us like unto God. 
If it be not, though an angel should bring it, he would not 
receive it. — Sermons, III. p. 485. 

Dr. Coxyers Middletox. 
The fall of man a moral fable. 
From the authority of many of the ancient interpreters and 
from my own reflections, I have ever been inclined to con- 
sider the particular story of the "fall of man as a moral fable 
or allegory ; such as we frequently meet with in other parts of 
the Old and JSTew Testament, in which certain religious duties 
and doctrines, with the genuine nature and effects of them, are 
represented, as it were, to our senses by a fiction of persons 
and facts which had no real existence. And I am the more 
readily induced to espouse this sense of it, from a persuasion 
that it is not only the most probable and rational, but the 
most useful also, by clearing it of those difficulties which are 
apt to shock and make us stumble, as it were, at the very 
threshold.— Works, II. 131. 

Archdeacon Paley. 
To remove what contradicts marts intelligence is a service to 
Christianity. 

Whoever can render religion more rational, renders it more 
credible • he who by a diligent and faithful examination of 
the original records, dismisses from his system one article 



LESSING. 



397 



which contradicts the apprehension, the experience, or the 
reason of mankind, does more towards recommending the 
belief, and, with the belief, the influence of Christianity, to 
the understanding and consciences of serious inquirers, and 
through them to universal reception, than can be effected by 
a thousand contenders for creeds and ordinances of human 
appointment. — Moral Philosophy : Dedication to Bishop Law. 

Dr. Priestley. 

The gross darkness of that night which has for many cen- 
turies obscured our holy religion, we may clearly see, is past; 
the morning is opening upon us ; and we cannot doubt but that 
the light will increase and extend itself more and more unto 
the perfect day. Happy are they who contribute to diffuse 
the pure light of the everlasting gospel. The time is coming 
when the detection of one error or prejudice relating to this 
most important subject, and the success we have in opening 
and enlarging the minds of men with respect to it, will be far 
more honourable than any discovery we can make in other 
branches of knowledge, or our success in propagating them. — 
Corruptions of Christianity : Dedication. 

Lessing. 

The love of God is true f reedom and true power. 

Intelligent love of God, the common Spirit of the world, will 
make men free. The time of a new and everlasting gospel 
will certainly come. Enough that I already see in the toys of 
children the weapons which men will one day wield with a 
firm hand. 

Free inquiry. 

Enter upon this inquiry like an honest man, I say to myself. 
See everywhere with thine own eyes. Pervert nothing, pal- 
liate nothing. As the consequences flow, so let them flow. 
Neither check the stream nor divert it, 



398 



REASON DENOUNCED IX THE PULPIT, 



" TJie Decrial of Reason from the Pvlpit"* 
The author shews that to denounce the noblest human 
faculty, Eeason, as a weak, corrupt, blind, seductive guide, is 
as little in accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ, 
as the favourite recurrence to the fall of Adam and Eve, and 
the universal depravity therefrom, brought forward for the 
purpose of fostering a blind faith, corresponds to Biblical 
records and traditions. To the theological pulpit authorities 
who decry reason he calls out : " You make yourselves ridi- 
culous by contradicting your own deeds : for you continue to 
calumniate that very reason which you are unable to dispense 
with in your demonstrations and refutations ! You grudge to 
others the use of that which you apply for yourselves at every 
moment, and in this respect are not a whit better than the 
Catholic priests whom you so severely denounce, because they 
deny to the laity the reading of the Bible, which they prefer 
to keep to themselves and interpret according to their own 
pleasure."t 

Belsham. 

From Genesis to Malachi I see no account of any such malig- 
nant being as the devil is commonly imagined to be. All good 
and all evil is in the Jewish Scriptures ascribed to the one 
Cod, who is the great and primary agent in all events. It is 
Jehovah, and not the devil, that hardens the heart of Pharaoh 
(Exod. vii. 3) ; and if there is " evil in the city," it is " the 
Lord," and not an evil spirit, " who hath done it." The word 
devil never occurs in the Old Testament in the sense in which 
it is now used. And Satan properly signifies only an adver- 
sary. In the Mew Testament the word devil is sometimes used 
to personify the principle of evil, and sometimes the idolatrous 
and persecuting power ; and the want of attention to this 

* This is the heading of the second of the famous VTolfenbiittle Frag- 
ments written by Eeimarus and published by Lessing, 1774 — 177S. 

f The Life and Works of Grotthold Ephraim Lessing, translated from the 
Grerman of Adolf Stahr, by E. P. Evans, Ph.D., Professor of Modern Lan- 
guages and Literature in the University of Michigan. Boston (U.S.), 1866. 



HERDER. 



399 



figurative mode of expression has misled many readers who 
were ignorant of Hebrew and Oriental phraseology, and has 
induced them to believe the real existence of an evil spirit. 
The possessing demons were not fallen angels, but human 
ghosts. And who can believe that human ghosts are permitted 
to enter into the bodies of living men and to torment them ? 
Who can suppose that a man cannot fall into an epileptic fit 
without being struck down by a ghost 1 or that a lunatic 
cannot utter blasphemies in his raving paroxysm without being 
instigated by a ghost 1 The Xew Testament invariably dis- 
tinguishes between the devil and demons, that is ghosts, and 
never speaks of a person being possessed by devils, but uni- 
formly by ghosts.* 

Herder. 

Satan the King of Shadows. 

By Sheol or Hell the Hebrews meant nothing more than 
the permanent residence of the dead. The inhabitants of this 
abode were regarded as still possessing a kind of life even in 
the grave. On this account they called the grave the house of 
rest, the mansion of unbroken peace. The soul thus con- 
sidered as a shade they placed in subterranean dwellings. 
There were found the ancestors of the Hebrews. Shadowy 
kings sat on shadowy thrones ; nay, whole cities, kingdoms, 
and vanquished armies, were crowded together in this mansion 
of shadows. Thus in process of time the subterraneous king- 
dom obtained a monarch, whose name was Belial, the ghostly 
king of imaginary beings, without substance or power. Then 
Sheol became a palace, an impregnable fortress with gates and 
bars of brass. It was a devouring gulf which never restored 
anything it had swallowed. Even in the New Testament we 
find many expressions which bear the marks of this mythology, 
as in the king who had the keys of hell and death (Eev. i. 18), 
who opened gates which none but he could open, subdued 
potentates, and delivered souls, which he alone could deliver. 



* Monthly Repository, Vol. II., 1807, p. 305, seq. 



400 



HERDER. 



It would be a very improper manner of illustrating things to 
apply all this to our ideas of hell and death. It is nevertheless 
certain that this kind of misapplication has taken place with 
respect to many ideas and modes of speaking which ought to be 
confined to the particular times in which they were employed. 
In the meantime the idea of hero or governor, considered in 
the extensive signification of those terms in the ancient poetry, 
came to denote great things — awful power and dominion. The 
potentate who reigned over human souls and had the power of 
death became an unrighteous tyrant, and the anointed of the 
Lord wrested from him both his dominion and his prey. Thus 
during the space of five thousand years the human race, des- 
titute of any defence or support against this King of Shadows, 
were in a long state of servitude and terror, or, to use the 
language of a sacred writer, were, through the fear of death, 
all their lifetime subject to bondage. Hence the doleful 
lamentations of Hezekiah. Hence that dejection which pre- 
vailed among the Hebrews at the prospect and approach of 
death, which the chieftains and people of other nations be- 
held and resisted with magnanimity and valour. In this 
respect the Hebrews were, if I mistake not, the most dastardly 
people upon earth. The dismal ideas of the shadow kingdom 
tormented them perhaps still more than the belief of a total 
annihilation would have clone.* 

Religion endures nothing magical. 
As the pagan temples lie in ruins on the spot where they 
once stood in pride, so will all altars be broken down on 
which worship is offered to a false god. This is the decree 
of the irrevocable law of the Supreme Father, the advance of 
human intelligence, the spirit of Christianity, and the great 
tendencies of creation. Nature can endure nothing unnatural, 
truth nothing untrue, religion nothing magical. A long night 
has covered everything, but the sun is rising and the spectres 
are taking to flight. 

* Herder's Oriental Dialogues, Dialogue VI. 



LARDXER. 



401 



Dr. Lardxer. 

It having been in those times (the age of Jesus) a very com- 
mon opinion that there were very many evil spirits in the 
region of the air, it is not at all strange that many people 
should live under apprehensions of suffering from them. And 
many might be induced to ascribe to such spirits and to their 
power and influence several indispositions and other calamities 
that befel them. Moreover, some persons of a speculative 
and philosophical temper might think it best to cherish this 
opinion among the people, with a view to subserve divers ends 
and purposes which they deemed innocent and useful ; one of 
which might be promoting the belief of the existence of spirits 
or invisible beings. Some there were, as the Sadducees among 
the Jews, who denied the existence of angels and the souls of 
men after death. The Pharisees, therefore, and some others 
might lay hold of and encourage the notion, that many 
bodily disorders were owing to evil spirits, the better to 
secure the persuasion of their real existence. This, therefore, 
may help us to account for the prevalence of this opinion, 
though it had no good foundation. 

It is not unreasonable to hold that the notion of posses- 
sions was received by the Jews from the Chaldean or Greek 
philosophers. 

It does not appear that the common opinion of possessions 
has any countenance in the Old Testament. 

Possession by evil spirits is a thing in itself absurd and 
impossible \ at the least unreasonable and improbable, and 
not to be supposed unless there be clear and full proof, which 
I think there is not. 

Eeal possessions seem inconsistent with the goodness of 
God. For let any man think with himself, if it be not a 
strange and hard case for a man to be put into the power 
of evil spirits, or for apostate angels, or other impure and 
wicked spirits, one or more of them, to be allowed to take 
possession of him, and to teaze and torment him as they think 



402 



NEANDER. 



fit. Can we fairly reconcile this to trie wisdom and equity of 
the Divine government 1 All those persons who are spoken 
of as having demons, or an unclean spirit, had some bodily 
indisposition. !N"or does it appear clearly from their history 
that there was anything beside such indispositions, and that 
discomposure of mind which usually accompanies them. There 
were eminent persons in ancient times who were of opinion 
that those called demoniacs were diseased only. This has 
been the opinion of some judicious, thoughtful and pious men 
of late times. This opinion is confirmed by Scripture, which 
describes Jesus as healing these very persons : " TTho went 
about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the 
devil" (Acts x. 38 ; comp. Matt. iv. 24). 

It is no uncommon thing for opinions to prevail in the 
world which have no solid foundation. How many have 
been disposed to ascribe the diseases of the human body, and 
other disastrous events in the world, to the planets or other 
stars ! — Lardner's Wor]cs,Yol. I. 449, seq. London : Dowding. 

Professor Neander. 

Diseases of the mind in every age bear the stamp, to some 
degree, of the prevailing tendencies and ideas of the times ; 
and those of the demoniacs reflected the peculiar and pre- 
dominant features of the Jewish mind of that age. The 
wretched beings seemed to be hurried onward by a strange 
and hostile power that subjugated their intellectual and moral 
being, and whose chief characteristic, as displayed in their 
paroxysms, was a wild and savage destructiveness. The Jews 
explained these phenomena according to their own notions, and 
especially by the general opinion that man was surrounded 
on every side by the operations of evil spirits, who were the 
authors of both moral and physical evil. And as a fierce 
destructiveness was considered to be characteristic of these 
spirits, the condition of the demoniacs was ascribed to their 
being possessed by one or more of them. 

The diseased persons themselves involuntarily conceived of 



NEANDER. 



403 



their own experience according to the prevalent opinion, and 
their expressions, literally taken, contributed to confirm it. 
Everything irrational which suggested itself to them appeared 
to their consciousness as the work and the will of the in- 
dwelling spirit. They conceived themselves, in fact, as pos- 
sessed of two natures, viz., their real proper being (the true I), 
and the evil spirit which subjugated them the other ; and 
thus it happened that they spoke in the jDerson of the evil 
spirit, with which they felt themselves blended into one, even 
in instincts and propensities utterly repugnant to their true 
nature. The sense of inward discord and distraction might 
rise to such a height as to induce the belief that they were 
possessed by a number of spirits, to whom they were com- 
pelled to lend their utterance. 

We may find a reason for the remarkable prevalence of 
such phenomena, at that time, not only among the Jews, but 
also throughout the Eoman empire, in the character of the 
age itself. It was an age of spiritual and physical distress, of 
manifold and violent disruptions, such as characterize those 
critical epochs in the history of the world at which, from the 
dissolution of all existing things, a new creation is about to 
unfold itself. The sway of demonism was a sign of the 
approaching dissolution of the whole world. Its phenomena 
— symptoms of the universally felt discord — were among the 
signs of the times which pointed to the coming of the Eedeemer, 
who was to change that discord into harmony. The insatiable 
craving of want is always a precursor of the approaching 
supply. There lay a profound truth at the bottom of the 
demoniac's consciousness that his feelings, inclinations and 
words did not spring from his rational, God-allied nature (bis 
true I), but from a foreign power belonging to the kingdom of 
the devil (evil), which had subjugated the former. And this 
truth offered the necessary point of contact for the operation of 
Christ's spiritual influence to aid the soul which longed to be 
delivered from its distraction and freed from its ignominious 
bondage. In the mind of the demoniac, the fundamental 

2 d 2 



404 



DEAN MILMAN; ROWLAND WILLIAMS. 



truth was inseparable from the form in which he conceived it ; 
it was therefore necessary to seize upon the latter in order to 
develop the former.* 

Dean Milman. 

I have no scruple in avowing my opinion on the snbject of 
the demoniacs to be that of Joseph Mede, Lardner, Dr. Mead, 
Paley, and all the learned modern writers. It was a kind of 
insanity, not unlikely to be prevalent among a people pecu- 
liarly subject to leprosy and other cutaneous diseases : and 
nothing was more probable than that lunacy should take the 
turn and speak the language of the prevailing superstition of 
the times. As the belief in witchcraft made people fancy 
themselves witches, so the belief in possession made men of 
distempered minds fancy themselves possessed. 

The demoniac mentioned in Matthew (xii. 22 — 29) seems 
to have suffered under infirmity rather than lunacy; the 
afflicted person was blind and dumb ; but such cases were 
equally applied to malignant spirits. There is one very strong 
reason which may have contributed to induce Jesus to adopt 
the current language on this point. The disbelief in these 
spiritual influences was one of the characteristic tenets of 
the unpopular sect of the Sadducees. A departure from the 
common language, or the endeavour to correct the inveterate 
error, would have raised an immediate outcry against him from 
his watchful and malignant adversaries, as an unbelieving 
Sadducee. — History of Christianity ', I. 234. 

Dr. Eowland Williams. 
Many persons think that, when we read in the New Testa- 
ment of men being possessed by devils, we ought to under- 
stand the words in what is conceived to be their most literal 
sense ; that is to say, that each sufferer was possessed by an 
evil spirit, which should in each case be considered as distinct 
a personal agent as the human being over whom he tyrannized. 

* The Life of Jesus Christ, by Augustus Neander ; translated by Professors 
M'Clintock and Blumenthal, p. 155, seq. London: Bohn, 1853. 



BISHOP COLENSO. 



405 



Again, on the other hand, many sober inquirers conceive the 
above view to be open to strong objections, both as regards 
the nature of the evidence on which it rests, and the moral 
conclusion to which it leads. They observe that all language 
must be interpreted according to the general habits and con- 
ceptions of the persons using it ; that the phrase " demoniac 
possession" was commonly current in the ancient world to 
denote any violent form of disease, such as we now term 
epilepsy or mania; that manifest traces of this usage are 
found in Greek medical writers ; and then they conceive that' 
our Saviour, instead of entering on a hopeless argument with 
the delusions of a maniac, removes by his gracious power the 
very disease which was misinterpreted. The conclusion then 
will be, that the words put by the sacred writers in the mouths 
of supposed evil spirits are merely the distorted utterances of 
a shattered and blinded mind; while- the conception by our 
Saviour of this popular view of the case will be merely an 
accommodation (such as we often find) of his own language 
and gesture to the usages of his country and his time. 

There are evil spirits of presumption, of backsliding, of 
doing what is right in our own eyes, of irreverence, the child 
of familiarity, and of a garrulous unreality in taking all holy 
words and things in vain. — Rational Godliness, Sermon XL 

Bishop Colenso. 
TJie Devil a figure of speech. 
"He that hath died hath been set free from sin" (Eom. vi. 7 : 
Dean Alford's translation). It is noticeable that St. Paul in 
this passage does not represent death, as a doom which God 
inflicts upon the race — innocent as they must be, multitudes 
of them, babes and others, of all wilful sin. He carefully 
guards his words from this. It is sin, the tyrant who in- 
flicts it — not God, the gracious Father of spirits ; it is "the 
devil," who "has the power of death," who keeps "many all 
their life-time subject to bondage." Of course this personifi- 
cation of sin is but a figure of speecli. It implies that the 



406 



BISHOP COLENSO. 



deatli of the human race is a consequence of the sin in their 
nature, according to the moral order of the universe, not a 
doom which the Great and Blessed God, who is called in 
Scripture " the Faithful Creator," passes, as a judgment, upon 
his fallen creatures, however helpless, and innocent of real 
conscious guilt. Death in itself is no curse. Death was in 
the world for the countless races of animals and animalcules 
ages before man's sin. There was no sign of a curse in their 
death. Nor would the death of man be attended with any 
notion of a curse attached to it but for the consciousness of 
sin. But then comes the Law and brings home to our con- 
sciences the sense of sin, of evil committed against the light 
we had, and before the face of a most pure and holy Being. 
And the devil, the slanderer, the accuser of God and of the 
brethren, makes us aware of this to fill our hearts with guilty 
fears, which keep us away from our Father's footstool. He 
teaches us thus to connect the idea of a curse with death. 
And many go trembling along the path of life, with the gloomy 
grave at the end of it, afraid to look the ghastly terror in the 
face. And so they turn their eyes ever to the ground as they 
go, and busy themselves with the petty things of this life, its 
business and pleasures, that they may for the present forget 
their fears, instead of making light of death, as they might, 
as they ought, and manfully pressing to do the work of their 
Lord. — The Epistle to the Romans, 1861. 

The Devil an actor in a story : social evils of ecclesiastical 
demonology. 

With such examples as these before us, we can scarcely 
doubt that the legend in the text (Matt. iv. 1), — with its evil 
spirit, speaking and visible, carrying our Lord through the 
air, just as we may read in many an Oriental story, — setting 
him upon a pinnacle of the temple, and then upon the "ex- 
ceeding high mountain," from which " all the kingdoms of the 
earth could be seen," had a similar origin in the imaginations 
of devout men. * * * The prevalence of belief in demoniacal 



BISHOP COLENSO. 



407 



possessions bids me to say, Shake off the incubus of that tra- 
ditionary system of religious belief which prevents our stand- 
ing up upon our feet as men, breathing joyously the health- 
giving air, the fresh-inspiring life, of this our day, rejoicing 
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. * * 
Many are the stories which we may read in the records of 
the Church in different ages, of supposed demoniacal posses- 
sion, sometimes of their cure, more frequently of diabolical % 
punishments, inflicted by priestly power, combined with po- 
pular ignorance, upon the unhappy victims of these absurd 
accusations. Open, for instance, the works of Bishop Hall 
(he died in 16-56), a most excellent Christian. What does he 
say on the subject of demons ] " How formidable is the 
number of those evil and hostile spirits ! Had we the eyes 
of holy hermits we might see the air full of those malignant 
spirits, laying snares for miserable mankind. And if the pos- 
sessors of one poor demoniac could style themselves Legion, a 
name that in .the truest account contains no less than ten 
cohorts, and every cohort fifty companies, and every company 
twenty-five soldiers, to the number of 1225 (theEoman legion 
contained properly 6000 soldiers) — what an army of these 
hellish fiends do we suppose is that wherewith whole mankind 
is beleaguered, all the world over !" — Works, VIII. 398. 

Truly the glorious and blessed world in which our Father 
has placed us would be a fearful place to live in, if this account 
were true. We might find abundant excuses for sin, if this 
was really our condition ; we might well marvel how it should 
be possible for any but a very few to reach their Father's 
home in safety, if indeed we were exposed to such assaults as 
these. 

The belief in the reality of demoniacal possession increased 
more and more in the Church, and during the middle ages 
reached a frightful intensity; and indeed it has only been 
abolished (?) in comparatively recent times by the light thrown 
upon such questions by God's blessed gift of modern science. 

But let the history of Christian Europe say how horrible 



408 



THEODORE PARKER. 



have been the consequences when such views have been 
followed out to their natural results, and when that dire belief 
in witchcraft and sorcery, which we know prevails among the 
Zulus round us, filled not long ago the whole of Christian 
Europe with misery, malignant hate, and crimes of the blackest 
dye, committed for the love of God, in the name of the pitiful, 
compassionate Jesus. For, as Mr. Lecky tells us in his recent 
work, even Luther could say : " I would have no compassion 
on these witches ; I would burn them all while, as he also 
tells us, 7000 victims are said to have been burnt at Treves, 
600 by a single bishop of Bumberg, 800 in one year in the 
diocese of Wurzburg, 1000 in the province of Como, 400 at 
Toulouse in a single execution, 500 in three months at Geneva, 
48 at Constance, 80 at the little town of Valery in Savoy, 70 
in Sweden ; and a single judge, named Eemy, boasted that he 
himself had been the means of putting to death in sixteen 
years 800 witches. — Natal Sermons, XX. — XXII. 

Theodore Parker. 

TJie ecclesiastical idea of God involves the Devil. 

In the ecclesiastical conception of God there is a deep back- 
ground of evil. Now and then the mysterious cloud is mira- 
culously lifted, and lets men see the mountain summits of 
anger, vengeance, jealousy and hate, and imagine the whole 
chain of malignity, Andes and Himalayas of wrath, hid un- 
derneath the veil. Out of this dark mass of evil in himself 
he created the devil — absolutely evil — and hell, both to last 
for ever, each a finality. The devil is also a child of God ? 
but not acknowledged, an outlying member of the divine 
family, the Ishmael of the universe, his hand against God, and 
God's against him. But after this mass of evil is subtracted 
and embodied in the devil, it is plain that evil still prepon- 
derates in the theological conception of God : for he does not 
bring the human race to a close, but still goes on creating new 
children of wrath, bowed down with the "sin" of "Adam's 
fall," before their birth doomed to eternal wretchedness. He 



THEODORE PARKER. 409 

might pardon, but he will not • stop creation, but he keeps 
the world going on, spawning whole shoals of people where- 
with to fatten hell ! He might at least annihilate the damned ; 
but even that were too merciful for his vindictive wrath; 
they must writhe in their agony for ever ! 

Yet, though evil so far preponderates in the ecclesiastical idea 
of God, as shewn in his conduct, some humane mercy is also 
ascribed to him, with corresponding acts* He wishes to save 
a few brands from the burning of the world, to give some 
other men glimpses of a prospect of escape from ruin. So he 
prepares a " scheme of redemption" for a few — exceptions to 
the ruin of the rest. 

Tlie Devil a marplot. 
God cannot accomplish his purposes ; the devil, his perpetual 
enemy, routs him in every great battle, and at last will fill 
an immense hell with the damned. God does not know how 
his own contrivance will work until set a-going, and then its 
wheels do not run in human history as in the Divine head. 
Thus " the fall of Adam" is as much a surprise to God as to 
man ; only the serpent understood it beforehand. While God 
loves some, he hates more, Voluntarily he created the devil, 
who is now a being absolutely evil. The devil is not merely 
a mistake and failure, but an intended marplot of the uni- 
verse, a premeditated contradiction. This fly in the ointment 
of the apothecary does no good in heaven, earth or hell, and 
is devised and intended for no good, helping neither any 
benevolent purpose of God, nor the development of man. 

No trace of the Devil to be found anywhere. 
The devil, a personal being, totally and absolutely evil, 
with immense power which he uses to thwart God and ruin 
men, you find not on the face of the earth to-day, no footsteps 
of him in " the Old Eed Sandstone," not a track of his step 
amid all the "Vestiges of the Xatural History of Creation :' : 
no detective police could ever find the faintest scent of this 
creature. Ask the minister, " How do you know there is 



410 



GEORGE COMBE. 



such a devil V and he answers, " It is a doctrine of the divine 
and miraculous revelation." Ask again, " How do you know 
the revelation is divine and miraculous, from God T and if 
he be an honest man and understand his profession, he will 
say, " I do not know ; I only find it convenient to assume it." 
Works; Triibner's edition. 

George Combe. 
Physical and mental science puts Satan to flight. 

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, divines and the 
people at large, both in England and Scotland, were in full 
possession of the Scriptures. The Eeformation was completed 
and printing was in active operation ; yet in those countries 
clergymen sat as judges, and condemned old women to the 
flames as witches. Now what was the cause of this barbarity? 
At that time there was neither physical nor mental science ; 
the phenomena of nature were believed to be under the in- 
fluence of magicians, of evil spirits, of the devil ; and those 
unhappy victims of ignorance, cruelty and superstition, were 
believed to be in league with these powers of darkness. It 
was the dawn of physical philosophy which opened up the 
creation to the human intellect, and revealed it as the vast 
domain of God ; whereas before that dawn, ignorant divines, 
with the Bible in their hands, had mistaken it for the realm of 
the devil. It was science that delivered the clergy and their 
flocks from the practice of atrocious cruelties, from which 
the unaided Bible had not sufficed to protect them. It is no 
disparagement to the Bible to say this, because it was never 
intended to supersede the study of God's will as revealed in 
the records of creation ; and in falling into superstition, the 
clergy and people were suffering the penalty of having omitted 
to discharge that duty to God and to themselves. — Moral Phi- 
losophy, p. 423. 1840. 



SHAMS AND SHOWS EXPLODED. 



411 



CHAPTER XL 

LAST WORDS. 

1. Explanatory. 
In sustaining the character of representing the shady side 
of human nature, and consequently in asserting on my own 
behalf the sunny side, I may have appeared to some to 
attenuate sin and wickedness. This I by no means have meant 
to do. Whether I am a personal being or not, none the less 
are sin and wickedness abominable and ruinous. As I in my 
real, that is my human relations, decline and decay, those 
terrors become less formidable, and when the happy day of 
my extinction is come, they will have disappeared. Between 
this and then there is a long interval. Meanwhile the old 
conflict has to be waged. Darkness will withstand light, 
and light w T ill strive to drive darkness away. In this battle 
every human being must take a part, and as he sides with the 
one or the other, so is he great or mean, noble or ignoble, a 
true man or a veritable beast. In publishing this Autobio- 
graphy, I take my stand on the side of God, and accordingly 
against Satanism of all kinds and wherever found. In one 
sense I fight against myself. As the champion of the good 
qualities of the human race, and an asserter of God's ever- 
lasting verities and laws, I assail moral lawlessness as moral 
lawlessness, and uphold virtue and religion as virtue and 
religion. My great aim is to explode the shams and shows 
which pass under those sacred names, in order that they may 
be superseded by their corresponding realities. Thus I under- 
mine myself only to own, assert and honour God. But I 
cannot undermine myself without directing my blows against 
those in high station, as well as those in low station, who 
nominally take as their motto, as do, for instance, the disci- 
ples of Loyola, In majorem Dei gloriam ( For the greater 
glory of God ) 9 while all they do is of a character as if they 
meant, In majorem sui gloriam — their own aggrandizement, 



412 



THE REAL PRIESTS ADMONISHED. 



or, which is pretty much the same thing, the aggrandizement 
of the pope or the priest. Whether pope, priest, prince or 
populace, it is all the same to me ; hating evil, I proscribe it ; 
loving good, I foster it. And now then I hope it will be 
clearly understood that I have described the innumerable 
evils which Satanism has produced, in order to set mankind 
free from those terrible harpies. Satanism once superseded, 
man stands in the immediate presence of his Maker. He has 
no cover, no pretext, no excuse for his misdeeds. "Mea culpa, 
mea culpa" ( Mine is the blame, mine is the Name ), he is com- 
pelled to feel, if not to say. No longer can he lay his wicked- 
ness to my account, no longer can he impute it to a taint of 
nature, or to the transgression of the founder of his family. 
Bearing the responsibility, he must bear the penalty also. 
" Change your mind, or endure your punishment." This 
righteous law of the righteous Governor of the universe he 
in time finds no less unchangeable than righteous. Submis- 
sion ensues, and the person the tenor of whose life was a 
continual breach of the Divine order, enters into harmony 
with it, and in becoming obedient, he becomes peaceful, and 
may ascend even into spiritual beatitude. The history of one 
man is the history of all men. 

Can so grand a result be made grander by Satanism ? What 
then does the popular Satan but confound the great issues of 
the moral universe 1 Not a problem connected therewith but 
he confuses and darkens. He is indeed the one great stum- 
bling-block of earth, whilst he is also the thunder-cloud which 
overshadows and disturbs even heaven itself. 

2. To the Real Priests. 

I do not wish to part with you in anger. I have said plain 
things of you and to you. You have done the same by me. Per- 
haps, could we count and weigh offences, those for which I am 
answerable are neither greater in number nor more weighty. 
However, as I wish to shake hands before we part, I ask 
pardon if I have been over-severe. Doubtless we shall meet 



TO EXPLODE SxVTANISM IS TO BENEFIT THE WORLD. 413 



again — but in which world I will not presume to determine. 
Eut wherever it may be, I should not like that either of us 
should be full of enmity. However, to shew my goodwill, I 
take my leave of you with a w r ord or two of advice. 

Beyond a doubt, if my reign is over, yours is coming to an 
end. When I am gone, your case will be desperate. And 
going I really am. Do you not see that, whereas I used to 
be everywhere, now I am all but' nowhere ] The literary men 
treat me with the intense scorn of utter silence. Even in novels 
I am of no service. Moral philosophy simply ignores me. 
Men of science smile when my name is mentioned. I am 
utterly banished from good society. 5Tot even as an expletive 
is my name used — except, it may be, by thick-headed squires 
or frequenters of tap- rooms. Nay, all the higher religious 
literature is exempt from even an allusion to me. I am, how- 
ever, turned to some account in certain pulpits ; but their quality 
does but measure the thoroughness of my decay. Under these 
circumstances, I seriously advise you to "renounce the devil 
and all his works," not in word, but in deed. Depend upon 
it, if you cling to me much longer, you will not save me from 
the approaching billows, but inevitably you will be submerged 
yourselves. Farew T ell ; I hear the soughing of the incoming 
ocean : save yourselves. Farewell ! 

3. My claim on the gratitude of the human race. 

If I know myself, I have not, in preparing these Memoirs 
for the press, been actuated by any form of gross selfishness. 
I shall not then tarnish my repute with posterity by here at 
the last putting forward any claim to superior merit. But I 
do ask for gratitude. I have certainly aimed to render some 
service to mankind. I have witnessed the crushing load of 
evil under which they groaned of yore through the use that 
was made of me and my alleged appurtenances. I leave the 
world in a measure relieved. To that most desirable result 
this Autobiography will, I hope, conduce in some measure. 
If, then, I am not mistaken, I have conferred some good on 



414 



THE SAVIOUR COMES. 



the human race. Let it be acknowledged ; not on my account, 
for I have no longer any vivid interest in anything done 
under the sun, hut as a proof that at any rate the vice of 
ingratitude no longer infests the world. That extinct, a preg- 
nant excuse for believing in my existence will exist no longer. 

The service I have rendered (if any), I have no wish to 
exaggerate. The monstrosities occasioned through me by my 
abettors, denote and measure the amount of distress and woe 
men have in consequence endured. As is the malignity of 
the disease, so is the benefit of the cure. Every preceding 
page declares the two either implicitly or explicitly. 

4. Tlie Epic closes. 
Yes ! nothing less than the grand and awful conflict which 
has from the earliest ages proceeded on this globe between 
good and evil, conscience and ill-regulated desire, obedience 
and disobedience, regard to God's eternal laws and disregard 
of them, have we, gentle Reader, been surveying under the 
old and once recognized antithesis of 

God and Satan, 
from which the latter member has been eliminated, leaving 
God, and God alone, as the one Supreme Creator, Governor 
and Benefactor of the universe. Yet the ancient contrariety, 
changed in form, remains in substance, and must remain, until 
sin and death, man's great and last enemies, are slain, when 
" God shall be all in all" (1 Cor. xv. 24, seq.). Meanwhile, 
alas for those that withstand the Divine will and power, 
whether by taking part with moral evil, or by giving support 
to theological falsity ! Yet they too will finally be made con- 
current elements in the universal harmony ; even, if necessary, 
by the severest discipline • for the Almighty Father cannot, 
and will not, be foiled in his purposes of love toward his 
children of the human race. 

The Saviour comes ! by ancient bards foretold : 
Hear him, ye deaf ! and all ye blind, behold ! 
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, 



SATAN GOUGED. 



415 



And on the sightless eye -ball pour the day ; 

'Tis he th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear, 

And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear : 

The dumb shall sing ; the lame his crutch forego, 

And leap exulting like the bounding roe. 

No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear, 

From every face he wipes off every tear. 

In adamantine chains shall Death be bound, 

And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound. 

As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, 

Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air, 

Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, 

By day o'ersees them, and by night protects ; 

The tender lambs he raises in his arms, 

Feeds from his hand and in his bosom warms ; 

Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage, 

The promised Father of the future age. Pope. 

My dissolution, to which. 1 have repeatedly pointed, is actually 
portended in a Teutonic myth relating to myself. The legend 
runs to this effect. On a certain occasion I came upon a 
man who was making buttons. Struck by the singularity of 
the employment, I asked him, " TThat are you doing I" " I am 
making eyes." " Mine are nearly worn out ; can you supply 
me with a new pair V " Come again this day month and you 
shall know." I kept the appointment and repeated my ques- 
tion. "Yes • but you must first submit to be bound." "A 
small price," I replied, "for so great a good." Thereupon 
I was bound. Then the operator, having me in his power, 
poured melted lead into my eye-balls. Tortured and enraged, 
I made a tremendous effort and tore myself loose. Bushing 
over a field, I met some peasants. " What is the matter ?" 
they asked. " Who is that villain ?" was my reply. " His name 
is Self." " Would I had dashed out his brains before I under- 
went the operation!" "Then," was the taunt, "you would 
have performed the wise operation of braining yourself. Bor 
to your own stupidity you owe your wounds." Tradition 
makes me to have died of my agonies. Tradition, as often, is 
here incorrect. And yet it did not speak in vain, for it teaches 



416 



satan's end. 



that wickedness is self-destructive infatuation. And so, though 
I still linger on in life, I know that my days are num- 
bered.* 

5. Great Pan is dead t 

Epithases, pupil of Cleombrotus, having, according to Plu- 
tarch, embarked with several others on board a vessel in order 
to sail to Italy, found himself in a dead calm near one of the 
islands of the iEgean Sea. While most of the passengers were 
indulging in wine after supper, a voice was suddenly heard 
from the island. It called out the name of the pilot, Thomas, 
so loud as to alarm every one in the ship. The pilot not 
having replied, the same voice, only in a louder and more 
penetrating tone, bade him on reaching a certain port announce 
these words : Great Pan is dead ! 

Amazement brought a number of persons around Thomas. 
What would he do ? What ought to be done ? A kind of 
spontaneous council resolved that if the wind was strong 
enough to carry the vessel be} r ond the island, the fact should 
be accounted a divine indication that the voice was no illu- 
sion. The wind sank more and more as the ship neared the 
island, and at last, passing on, gently glided into the intended 
port. JSTo sooner was the anchor cast than Thomas shouted 
out, 

Great Pan is dead ! 
The words echoed from the vessel to the shore, from the 
shore to the neighbouring range of hills ; from the hills it 
ran through the vales. The vales sent it into the villages, and 
the villages united to transmit it to the capital, where it was 
taken up and reverberated by man, woman and child, all over 
the surface of the city, until the sounds gathered into one 
assemblage which proclaimed in tones of thunder the fearful 
word : 

Great Pan is dead ! 
The proclamation was followed by wailings and groanings 
innumerable, until the air was filled with grief and woe, when 

* Aryan Mythology, by Rev. G. W, Cox. II. 365. 



OLD SATANISM AND NEW THOUGHT. 



417 



of a sudden a dense and widely-spread cloud arose which 
shrouded the heavens above and made dark night universal. 

This ancient legend betokens the intense attachment which 
the sons of men have felt for me. The product of their own 
infirmities, I have been the object of their love and even of 
their worship. Living in those, their deep and ineradicable 
affections, I have been able to disregard decay and defy dis- 
solution. But the breezes of a new spirit are beginning to 
blow. The vessel in which I sail is carried past the sleepy 
island, and already she is standing out into the main of human 
intelligence and pure religion. The air is too aerial and elastic 
for my lungs. I fetch my breath with difficulty, and already 
am so much reduced in strength, that I can only murmur out 
the announcement, 

Great Pan is dead ! 
Farewell, my children. You have become adult, and hence- 
forwards will do far better without me than you did while 
under my inspiration ! Farewell ! farewell ! 

Satan. 

6. The Pith of the Volume. 

" Sin's sic an awfu' thing ! And I hae sinned sae often and 
sae lang, that maybe He'll be forced efter a' to sen' me to the 
bottomless pit." 

" Hoot, hoot, Tam'as ! dinna speyk sic awfu' things," said 
Dow. "They're dreadfu' to hearken till. I's warran' He's as 
kin'-hertil as yersel." 

"I said, he might be forced to sen' me efter aV 

" What, Tam'as !" cried Cupples. " He cudna save ye ! 
Wi' the Son and the Speerit to help him ? and a willin' hert 
in you forbye ? legs ! ye hae a greater opinion o' Sawtan 
nor I gied ye the discredit o'." 

K H~a, na; it's nae Sawtan. It'smysel'. I wadna lay mair 
wyte upo' Sawtan's shouthers nor J s his ain. He has eneuch 
already, puir fallow S" 

2 E 



418 



KEEP YOUR MIJJD OPEX. 



" Ye'll be o' auld Eobbie Burns's opinion, that he 'aiblins 
micht still hae a stake.'" 

" Na, na ; he has nane. Burns was nae prophet." 

" But jist suppose, Tam'as — gin the de'il was to repent." 

" Man !" exclaimed the stonemason, rising to. his full height 
with slow labour after the day's toil, " it wad be cruel to gar 
// im repent. It wad be ower sair upon him. Better kill him. 
The bitterness o' sic repentance wad be ower terrible. It 
wad be mair nor he cud bide. It wad brak his hert a'thegither. 
Na, na, he has nae chance." 

" Hoo ken ye that V ' asked Cupples. 

"There's no sic word ¥ the*Scripture." 

"Do ve think He maun tell us a' tkin^?" 

"We hae nae richt to think onything that He doesna 
tell V 

"I'm nae sae sure o' that, Tam'as. Maybe, whiles, he 
does na tell 's a thing jist to gar 's think about it, and be ready 
for the time whan he will tell 's." — George Macdonald. 



FINIS. 



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